Pot law’s Catch-22: You can have it but can’t buy it

It sounds so contradictory.

It’s now legal for adults 21 and older in Washington to possess up to an ounce of pot. They just can’t legally buy it, at least not for another year.

This seeming Catch-22 of allowing adults to have marijuana, but giving them no legal way to purchase it, has caused some to publicly criticize the way the initiative was drawn up, in essence asking: “What were they thinking?”

Initiative backers made the legalization of small amounts of pot for adults its first priority by design, said Alison Holcomb, an attorney and spokeswoman for the pro-legalization initiative.

“What we wanted to do is bring an end to the arrests of adults for marijuana use as quickly as possible,” she said.

In Washington, there are about 9,000 cases each year involving marijuana possession by people 18 and older; only about 700 involve the manufacture and delivery of marijuana, she said.

Holcomb said she understands that for anyone not familiar with marijuana laws, the ability to possess, but inability to buy it for at least the next year, may seem confusing.

Although 14 other states have decriminalized use of medical marijuana, none have attempted to set up a system to tax and regulate its sale for adults for recreational purposes, until now, she said.

The initiative hands responsibility for drawing up the blueprint for licensing and taxing growers, distributors and retailers to the state’s Liquor Control Board, giving it a Dec. 1, 2013, deadline.

“We did not want to try to address all the details of how the regulatory system should work in the initiative,” Holcomb said. Instead, it leaves it in the hands of a state agency that until June of this year was regulating liquor sales in Washington.

Officials with the state Liquor Control Board have said that the public shouldn’t expect to see a state licensed store open until 2014.

The initiative specifies that marijuana will be taxed at 25 percent at each step: when it is grown, when it is sold to wholesalers and when it is sold to a customer in a licensed store. The price, with taxes, including additional state and local sales taxes, is estimated at about $336 an ounce. At a Mukilteo medical marijuana shop, an ounce today sells for about $240.

Although such a system would be historic, ending an era of prohibition, whether it is anything more than a voter pipe dream is yet to be seen.

That’s because marijuana remains illegal under federal law. On Wednesday, the day before the law allowing adults to possess limited amounts of marijuana went into effect, U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan in Seattle gave the public a pointed reminder.

“Regardless of any changes in state law, including the change that will go into effect on Dec. 6 in Washington state, growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law,” her statement said.

The Department of Justice continues to review the legalization efforts in Washington and Colorado, which passed a similar legalization law last month.

Durkan advised people to remember that it remains against federal law to bring any amount of marijuana onto federal property, including all federal buildings, national parks and forests, military installations and courthouses.

Although it is against the new law to smoke pot in public, some supporters gathered in Seattle late Wednesday night to celebrate as the change in the law went into effect at midnight — by publicly lighting up.

“Obviously it made a lot of us a little nervous,” Holcomb said. If things were to get out of hand with ongoing public use of marijuana, it might cause other states looking at decriminalization to have reservations, she said.

“I think the celebration was well deserved by those activists and consistent with the generally good manners of our marijuana-smoking population in the city,” Holcomb said.

“It was a unique moment in time and history,” she added. “I don’t think Seattle residents need to worry that it will become a regular experience.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Southbound lanes on Highway 99 reopen after crash

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, blocked traffic for over an hour. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.