Seattle’s largest medical pot dispensary opens
by JOHN LANGELER / KING 5 News
Instead of a state-run liquor store, a building in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood now holds “the Whole Foods of weed,” according to the man who owns the business inside.
Green Ambrosia opened last Saturday and is the city’s biggest medical marijuana dispensary.
The opening comes as Washington’s Liquor Control Board and lawmakers decide how to regulate recreational marijuana sales in the wake of Initative 502, which legalized the use and possession of small amounts of pot.
“This could be the face of what I-502 enabled pot looks like,” explained Green Ambrosia owner Dante Jones.
Jones’ business has operated since 2011, but only recently opened a storefront. Inside, behind a bamboo wall, is one large glass table loaded with jars of marijuana. There are restrictions on how much medical marijuana a business can have on sale.
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Medical Marijuana: Federal Law Still Rules Over I-502
SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane resident Jerry Laberdee was in Federal court Wednesday to face charges of selling and using marijuana for charges filed before the passing of Initiative 502.
Laberdee is a medical marijuana patient and dispensary owner. His store, ”Medical Herb Providers,” was raided in 2011 when federal agents seized more than 30 pot plants, thousands in cash, and several ounces of ready-to-smoke weed.
Jerry Labredee and his business partner Dennis Whited were charged with distribution and manufacture. Laberdee and Whited were facing up to 20-years in prison.
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Bills would stop medical pot arrests, erase marijuana convictions
SEATTLE (AP) – Two marijuana-related bills advanced Thursday in Olympia, with legislative committees giving their OK to one measure that would block police from arresting medical marijuana patients and another that would let people have misdemeanor pot convictions erased.
The House Public Safety Committee voted 6-5 to recommend the bill on pot convictions be passed, and the Senate Health Care Committee approved the arrest-protection bill. The votes beat a deadline Friday for bills dealing with policy matters to be passed out of committee.
Democratic Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon of Burien told the House committee Wednesday that after Initiative 502 passed, allowing adults over 21 to have up to an ounce of marijuana under state law, he started thinking about the thousands of people who have criminal records for activity that is now legal – criminal records that can keep people from getting jobs, housing or loans.
Typically, people must wait three years after completing their sentence before asking to have a misdemeanor conviction vacated. The bill would eliminate that waiting period and remove other restrictions on having pot misdemeanors wiped clean.
The bill drew some objections at a hearing Thursday. The head of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Tom McBride, noted that the bill would allow people to have their convictions erased even if they had more marijuana than I-502 allows. Misdemeanor pot possession has historically been defined as up to 40 grams, but the new law only lets people have up to an ounce, or 28 grams.
Related articles
- Medical Marijuana: Federal Law Still Rules Over I-502 (khq.com)
- Bills would stop medical pot arrests, erase marijuana convictions (komonews.com)
- House panel hears bill to tax medical pot sales (sfgate.com)
- House panel hears bill to tax medical marijuana sales (komonews.com)
- Seattle’s largest medical pot dispensary opens (king5.com)
- North Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill Killed — With Extreme Prejudice (informationliberation.com)
- Pot-Related Bills Advance In State Legislature (seattle.cbslocal.com)
- House panel hears bill to tax medical-pot sales (seattletimes.com)
- Nevada state senator to push dispensary bill amid confusing medical marijuana law (rawstory.com)
- City of Flint releases statement on medical marijuana dispensaries (minbcnews.com)
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