BIPARTISAN GROUP INTRODUCES NEW BILL ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

OLYMPIA -- Eight Democratic and Republican senators Tuesday introduced
a revamped medical marijuana law.

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, is the prime sponsor of Senate
Bill 5955.

The bill would create a statewide registry of qualified patients,
which would be available to law enforcement during criminal
investigations. The bill also would allow pot to be grown in
collectively run gardens.

And it would let cities and counties decide whether to issue permits
to dispensaries, which are referred to as nonprofit patient
cooperatives in the bill.

Ezra Eickmeyer of the Washington Cannabis Association said the group
is likely to oppose the bill because of a number of concerns,
including ones related to the registry and the allowing of cities and
counties to decide the fate of the cooperatives.

A public hearing on the bill is planned today in the Senate Ways and
Means Committee.

It's unclear how cities and counties will respond to this bill. Many
want the state to decide if dispensaries are going to be legal and, if
so, how they will be regulated. They also want the state to set
uniform rules for where dispensaries can be located.

The cities of Edmonds, Granite Falls and Mountlake Terrace have
adopted moratoriums on the opening of any medical cannabis growing and
distribution operation. They and the councils in other cities as well
as the Snohomish County Council would gain authority to allow or
disallow nonprofit patient cooperatives under the proposed
legislation.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Attorney General Rob McKenna replied to a
letter from Democratic lawmakers on whether he thought federal
authorities' threat to arrest state workers for carrying out the
medical marijuana law should be taken seriously.

McKenna's nine-page response basically said one can't predict what
federal authorities will do.

Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, wrote the letter signed by 14 other
lawmakers including Reps. Mary Helen Roberts, D-Lynnwood, and Hans
Dunshee, D-Snohomish.

"I am disappointed by Attorney General Rob McKenna's nonresponse to
the questions that I and other lawmakers posed," Goodman said in a
statement.