Editorial: No surprise that pot laws will continue to be tweaked

The law authorizing the legal retail sale of marijuana is 2 years old. Stores did not open until July.

No one should be surprised state and local officials are struggling with the ground rules despite the Washington Liquor Control Board’s painstaking efforts to design a system that allows the drug’s production and sale while restricting access and assuring the public’s safety.

Mankind has been consuming alcohol for millennia, and we continue to tweak its sale and consumption. If the invention of the automobile had not put a 2-ton weapon in the hands of every person aged 16 and up, the abuse of substances of any kind would likely not be the issue it has become in the past century.

We are not even certain what level of marijuana’s intoxicant – THC – impairs function, although some states have set a level for law enforcement purposes. Even technology that would allow on-the-spot testing for THC levels is still in the laboratory.

Some Washington communities have responded to these issues by banning its sale, a possibility unaddressed by Initiative 502. State courts and the attorney general’s office have so far supported that local option.

The Spokane Valley City Council on Tuesday abruptly halted sales at outlets not regulated by the LCB, mainly medical marijuana shops. More arrests for marijuana intoxication have created a public health emergency, members say.

Spokane County commissioners next week will discuss zoning changes that would further limit the areas where marijuana can be grown or sold.

Some of these actions are driven by legitimate concerns, some by a fundamental belief that marijuana should not be legal – an issue resolved by voter approval of I-502.

Some of the confusion can be attributed to the separate system for selling medical marijuana. Regulation in that market has been sloppy, and without the heavy taxation imposed on retail sales, medical marijuana shops are an attractive lower-cost alternative for those who can get a “prescription.”

Patients who rely on marijuana for relief of chronic pain do not want their medication taxed, and rightly so, but at least one legislative proposal will propose consolidating all outlets under a single regulatory system, with retail and medical marijuana distinguished by THC levels: low for patients, higher for recreational users.

Anyone, not just medical users, would be able to grow a few plants at home.

Sponsor Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Ballard, says her bill will increase the number of sales outlets, which should bring the price at state-regulated stores closer to street prices.

Too much liberalization is going to draw more attention from federal law enforcement that, under the Obama administration, has stayed its hand. In two years, that could change.

Washington has been careful, frustratingly so for some people. But this is a new industry, one into which millions of dollars have been invested. Whatever changes the Legislature makes – and some are almost sure to be made – will not be the last.

State and local governments do not have to proceed as if there is an emergency.