Time appears to be running out for Seattle’s medical marijuana retailers. The shops, which like the rest of Washington’s medical marijuana program, are unregulated. The city recently fired off hundreds of letters to unlicensed marijuana businesses, warning them to get licensed or face “enforcement action.”
Jake Ellison of the SeattlePI reports that letters went out last Thursday to businesses engaged in “major marijuana activity,” which includes 45 or more plants and more than 72 ounces of cannabis.
The state regulates recreational marijuana stores.
Ellison reports the letters to medical marijuana establishments state:
Major marijuana activity is prohibited in certain zones. It is also prohibited everywhere in Seattle without a license issued by the Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB).
Businesses that have been conducting major marijuana activity since before November 16, 2013 have until July 1, 2015 (or January 1, 2016, depending on action by the state legislature), to either: (1) obtain a state-issued license or (2) stop conducting major marijuana activity.
Any new (i.e., commencing on or after November 16,2013) major marijuana activity in Seattle must have a state license. If you began operating after November 16, 2013 and do not have a state issued license, you are in violation of City law and can be subject to enforcement action.
Here’s a look at the rules for marijuana businesses in Seattle.
Good news for pot consumers: A study looking at the link between marijuana use and intelligence finds pot has little impact on one’s IQ. (The topic was studied by Duke University researchers whose work was later criticized.) The latest research was done by the University College of London.
The Washington Post’s Christopher Ingraham explains:
Researchers examined children’s IQ scores at age 8 and again at age 15, and found “no relationship between cannabis use and lower IQ at age 15,” when confounding factors – alcohol use, cigarette use, maternal education, and others – were taken into account. Even heavy marijuana use wasn’t associated with IQ.
“In particular alcohol use was found to be strongly associated with IQ decline,” the authors write. “No other factors were found to be predictive of IQ change.”
The UK study does find evidence, however, of slightly impaired educational abilities among the very heaviest marijuana users. This group of students scored roughly 3% lower on school exams taken at age 16, even after adjusting for confounding factors.
And in case you missed it, Jeff Mapes, the senior political writer for The Oregonian, reports that a participant in Wednesday’s debate on marijuana legalization in Oregon has retracted a remark he made during the event.
Dr. Ron Schwerzler, who caused an uproar at a Tuesday night debate on marijuana legalization when he claimed that five Colorado children died after consuming the drug, on Wednesday retracted his statement and acknowledged he was wrong.
“I really need to retract that statement because I can’t back it up,” said Schwerzler, the medical director at an addictions treatment center in Eugene. He said he might have been misunderstanding accounts of children who have been hospitalized in Colorado after accidentally eating marijuana-laced candies or other edibles.
KATU has posted a link to the entire debate here.
– Noelle Crombie
Marijuana news: Seattle warns medical marijuana shops to get state license or face enforcement
No comments:
Post a Comment