WA Lege Day 10: Medical marijuana bill draws criticism

OLYMPIA — The latest incarnation of a bill to add structure Washington's medical marijuana laws has supporters who don't like parts of it and opponents who do. 

People who operate clinics and dispensaries questioned the need for a voluntary registry of medical marijuana patients. Law enforcement officials like the registry, although they don't care for a provision that would allow patients to set up non-profit co-ops to grow their supplies. Some cities like flexibility for co-ops and collective gardens, others want to be able to ban them.

What they generally agreed, however, was that something has to change.

“This is like a big puzzle, trying to put all the pieces together into a coherent whole that will make sense for all the groups,” Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Wells, D-Seattle, the sponsor of SB 6265 said.