Attempts by Washington State's legislature to to phase out the medical marijuana industry have failed. Bills passed by the Senate and House were never resolved as they adjourned until next year on Thursday.
With recreational marijuana stores scheduled to start opening in June, the legislature planned to put the unregulated medical cannabis shops out of business, essentially merging rec with medical in the same stores. This task has now been tabled until 2015.
"That doesn’t give patients much reassurance that we won’t be targets,” cautions Kari Boiter, state coordinator for Americans for Safe Access.
But, still, count this as a victory for medical-marijuana in Washington, which was on life support until the legislature decided to back down on HB 2149 and SB 5887.
