It’s been almost a year since Washington’s medical marijuana collectives merged with the recreational system. The Cannabis Patient Protection Act (CPPA,) was aimed at streamlining and beefing up regulations for the medical marijuana system. Previous collectives were unregulated and essentially the wild west compared to the law-abiding era of I-502.
With a new set of rules came a new set of doubts about the future of medical marijuana. When I-502 passed back in Nov. 2012, people were already preparing for the end of a medical market that began 14 years prior, per The Seattle Weekly.
A major hang-up was the number of licenses handed out under the CPPA. Only 222 medical licenses were created for over 1500 medical collectives, according to The Stranger. The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB,) based that number on research done by BOTEC Analysis.
“They systematically underestimate values commonly known to be higher. Their results should not be used to inform or guide policy or business decisions,” Jim MacRae told The Stranger. MacRae is a cannabis data scientist in Washington. Steven Davenport, lead researcher on the report, admitted the report was basically an educated guess based on limited data of the medical marijuana system, per The Stranger.
Ryan Bean owns The Fire House in Ellensburg, Washington. His shop is on board with medical. One feature that has been popular with medical patients is online ordering. The Fire House updates their online menu real time and allows patients to place their order for pick-up in store, Bean said.
Overall, the medical side isn’t taking off like recreational. Recreational products have medical grade quality at reasonable price points because shops must compete with each other, something that was missing in the early days of I-502. So, paying a couple hundred dollars for a medical card and signing up for a Washington Department of Health (WDOH) database (which a lot of people aren’t keen on,) isn’t a good enough reason to save on sales tax (6.5 percent) at the point of purchase. Another problem Bean faces is how to advertise The Fire House’s medical side. The WDOH hit The Fire House with an advertisement violation for the use of a large green cross underneath their store sign, which as since been removed. The WDOH does not allow the use of green crosses to advertise marijuana. Bean is in the process of working out a solution.
“It (medical marijuana,) seems dead in the water,’ Bean lamented.
Cannabis Central is the other shop in Ellensburg serving medical. Margaux Massey recently came back to Cannabis Central and hasn’t seen a lot of medical cards since her return. However, since the medical system merged with recreational it’s been easier to find cannabis products more commonly used as medicine, like pure CBD oil and Rick Simpsons Oil, Massey Said.
As of May 15, 2017, there are only 172 shops with a medical license in Washington. 50 less than the 222 that were designated by the WSLCB when the CPPA was signed into law, per the WDOH.
