Topics
Medical marijuana
Summary
Latest updates in this topic
Washington flips the switch on a new medical marijuana system
Washington’s new medical marijuana laws take effect Friday, meaning medical dispensaries will close and many recreational stores will expand into that market.
Marijuana patient sues state after daughter develops MRSA in foster care
Medical marijuana patient, denied custody of daughter, sues state agency after she contracts serious illness in foster care.
Four Idaho kids have qualified to take marijuana-derived epilepsy drug
Four Idaho children are now taking a drug derived from marijuana to treat severe epilepsy under a limited state program, Idaho lawmakers learned Monday, and 18 more kids are being …
State could get 222 more pot stores
OLYMPIA — Washington will likely increase the number of retail marijuana stores to 556, to handle the demand for medical marijuana licenses.
After veto, Idaho moves to allow 25 sick kids access to cannabis-derived drug
Idaho is just weeks away from enrolling up to 25 children with severe epilepsy in a free program to provide them with an experimental, non-psychoactive drug extracted from marijuana, under …
Medical marijuana referendum won’t be on Washington ballot
OLYMPIA – Washington voters won’t be asked this fall if they want to keep changes made this spring to the state’s medical marijuana laws. Organizers of a petition drive to …
Senate passes pot tax bill
OLYMPIA – Changes to the state’s marijuana taxes and the way they will be spent received final approval from the Senate and were sent to Gov. Jay Inslee Saturday. After …
State House approves taxes on medical marijuana
OLYMPIA – Medical marijuana patients would pay many of the same taxes as recreational pot users under a bill approved Friday by the House. On a 59-38 vote, the House …
Kettle Falls Five sentencing hearing delayed to October
Members of a family who grew medical marijuana on their farm near Kettle Falls will wait until October to learn whether they will spend time in federal prison. U.S. District …
Washington Legislature wraps up – for now
OLYMPIA – A few hours before the gavel came down on the regular session, Gov. Jay Inslee signed one of the most-discussed laws, one that brings medical marijuana under much …
Washington Senate OKs marijuana regulation changes
OLYMPIA – A major revision to the state’s marijuana laws, blending the medical and recreational systems and setting up a voluntary registry for adult patients, overwhelmingly passed the Senate on …
Washington lawmakers study marijuana rules
OLYMPIA – Leading the way for legalized marijuana nationally doesn’t mean just anything goes in Washington when it comes to pot. Instead, it provides a springboard into new questions for …
Pot lounges among marijuana issues lawmakers asked to consider
OLYMPIA – As legislators worked this week to blend the state’s recreational and medical marijuana laws, Spokane Valley officials asked them to consider one more wrinkle in the rapidly changing …
Kettle Falls Five reduced to three
The Kettle Falls Five marijuana collective has been reduced to three this week after one of the defendants in the federal criminal case cut an eleventh-hour plea deal with prosecutors. …
Medical marijuana revisions proposed
OLYMPIA – Major changes to the state’s largely unregulated medical marijuana industry passed the Senate after sponsors beat back a challenge to requirements for a patient database and a plea …
Judge rejects ‘Kettle Falls Five’ marijuana defendants’ requests
A federal judge declined Thursday to throw out the criminal case against the marijuana farmers dubbed the “Kettle Falls Five,” setting up the likelihood of another trial delay two years …
Judge denies dismissal of marijuana case against ‘Kettle Falls Five’
The trial for the quintet of marijuana farmers dubbed the “Kettle Falls Five” seems destined for another delay. And when it commences, it may be the trial of the Kettle …
House to address disparities in pot laws
OLYMPIA – A House panel rolled 18 different proposals to change Washington’s marijuana laws into a single wide-ranging bill Monday, hoping to address at least some problems with the state’s …
Spin Control: Hearing on marijuana laws takes on mainstream feel
OLYMPIA – If one lives long enough, things that once seemed impossible will become commonplace. Or so my grandfather used to say. He was living proof of that: Born before …
Medical pot growers have unfair advantages, say counterparts
OLYMPIA – Medical marijuana growers and sellers have a series of unfair business advantages, their recreational pot counterparts told legislators Thursday. Medical marijuana is unregulated in Washington state. It’s unlicensed. …
Washington Senate bill would license medical pot sales
OLYMPIA – Medical marijuana would come under some of the same licensing requirements as the recreational form of the drug but its buyers would pay fewer taxes under a plan …
Without notice, Spokane Valley council halts new marijuana businesses
Citing a public health crisis, the Spokane Valley City Council on Tuesday passed a moratorium on all marijuana businesses other than retail, production and processing operations already licensed by the …
Smell of pot can be basis for police search
Though marijuana is now legal in Washington for recreational and medical use, courts continue to grant law enforcement wide leeway in using the presence of pot to search property. A …
Club offers social pot spot
Eric Buchanan envisions a day when marijuana will be as common as vodka tonics or microbrews at lounges and nightclubs across Washington. Until then, he and his business partners are …
Eye on Boise: Rally decries veterans cemetery’s same-sex ban
“Add the Words” protesters returned to the Idaho state Capitol last week where roughly 180 were arrested during this year’s legislative session while pressing unsuccessfully for a hearing on legislation …
Washington state pursuing medical pot dispensaries’ taxes
OLYMPIA – The state Revenue Department is stepping up efforts to make medical marijuana dispensaries pay their taxes. After more than two years of “educational outreach” designed to teach medical …
Hemp could be noxious weed, some farmers worry
OLYMPIA – “Weed” is not an official weed, at least not in Washington. So says the state Noxious Weed Control Board, which recently discussed whether various forms of cannabis, from …
Washington legislators leave plenty to next year’s session
OLYMPIA – The Legislature closed up shop with seven minutes before its constitutionally mandated midnight stopping time Thursday, ending a short session that was short on expectations and, many would …
Washington lawmakers fail to agree on merging medical, recreational pot systems
OLYMPIA – Washington’s two legal marijuana systems – an older one for medical patients and a new one for “recreational use” by adults – may remain separate at least for …
Man shot outside Spokane marijuana dispensary
The owner of a Spokane marijuana dispensary shot a man outside the store Sunday night.
Liquor board changes rules for marijuana grow license
OLYMPIA – Faced with far more people wanting to grow legal marijuana than state rules would allow, the Washington Liquor Control Board upped more than fivefold the amount of land …
Spin Control: ‘Marijuana’ racist? Washington Legislature’s silliest moment in 2014
With more than 100 bills addressing marijuana this session, it may be no surprise the silliest thing said so far has involved this topic. Granted, we’re only a third of …