By Sam Sabzehzar | July 27, 2011
With the stroke of a pen Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn signed a bill regulating medical cannabis like any other business into law this month.
“Prohibition does not work,” said McGinn Wednesday morning, voicing what most politicians are scared to admit but most believe non-the-less.
“We have seen the criminal enterprise it becomes, it helps spark violence, violence we see here in our city and elsewhere and it also denies to patients who need it an appropriate medication.”
Passed by the city council, the bill requires that medical marijuana operations get proper licensing for flowers and food-handling permits if they want to dispense medical cannabis in manufactured form like a brownie or a tincture, as well as follow all other regulations per the city’s permitted uses and development standards.
This is loud approach speaks volumes to other cities in Washington that have imposed moratoriums on such operations, as well as nearby states like Oregon, who’s population voted to deny medical cannabis patients the right to a safe distribution model.
The nation’s largest hemp festival, Seattle’s Hempfest will take next month, and by next year who knows what kind of kindness centers patients from around the world will see.
Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed much of a bill several months ago that would have created a system of regulated and permitted medical cannabis dispensaries, leaving in sections allowing collective medical marijuana operations.
