GOVERNOR'S VETO LEAVES CITIES IN A HAZE OVER MEDICAL POT DISPENSARIES

Count Edmonds Mayor Mike Cooper among those frustrated that Gov. Chris
Gregoire didn't better defog the rules surrounding medical marijuana
in Washington.

He, like many city and county leaders in the state, had been hoping
the governor and lawmakers would clarify the law on how marijuana can
be grown and distributed to qualified patients.

It would make life simpler when operators of those marijuana
dispensaries show up at City Hall to get a business license or open up
a storefront without one.

But Gregoire vetoed most of a medical marijuana bill passed by the
Legislature, leaving mayors such as Cooper still seeking answers on
exactly what they can do regarding those entrepreneurs.

"In the absence of any guidance from the Legislature, the cities have
no ability to move forward," Cooper said Friday.

Gregoire contends it shouldn't be that confusing. Dispensaries aren't
legal, she said, and cities can use their land use and zoning powers
to prevent them from cropping up if that's the concern.

It's more complicated for them.

Elected officials and law enforcement leaders are generally frustrated
by having to referee without a whistle in a highly charged debate that
pits the will of the people against a long standing law of the land.

Washington voters in 1998 legitimized marijuana use for medical
reasons. But Initiative 692 didn't set up any system for getting
qualified patients their cannabis free of hassle and threat of arrest.

These days, dispensaries are opening with increasing regularity as
their operators risk jail by flouting federal law's ban on growing and
selling of marijuana. Several dispensaries have been busted, including
several in Spokane on Thursday.

In city governments, this issue has become almost a crisis of
conscience for some leaders. They don't want to see patients deprived
of needed medicine, but they also don't want to be charged with
abetting criminal behavior by letting dispensaries open.

Leaders in some cities want to look the other way to let dispensaries
roam free. In Edmonds, Cooper said the city denied a business license
to one person who wanted to open a dispensary. A second person opened
one without a license then moved out of the city when given a
cease-and-desist order.

Then in January, the City Council voted to impose a moratorium on
dispensaries. They hoped state lawmakers would craft uniform rules for
permitting them. Mountlake Terrace and Granite Falls also have passed
moratoriums for the same reason.

Mountlake Terrace Councilwoman Michelle Robles said the lack of clear
guidelines from the state makes it difficult to even try to discuss as
a community where they should and should not be located.

"We first need to make sure we're not running afoul of state law," she
said.

Cooper, a former state lawmaker, knows Gregoire's veto isn't the end
of the story. When told another version of the bill may surface in the
current special session, he said it would be welcomed.

"It'll be disappointing if they fail to take some action," he said.
"Even if they take action to say there's no dispensaries allowed is
better than nothing. The Legislature needs to fix this one way or another."

And Gregoire would need to sign it.