What Washington Wants: Legal Dispensaries and Political Backbone

Hen-hearted Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire.

​It's not unusual for a politician to make a cowardly decision. For a perfect example, see Washington Governor Chris Gregoire's recent gutting of SB 5073, which would have formally legalized medical-marijuana dispensaries in the state.

While it's no great shock that dispensaries had already been mostly tolerated, at least in the Puget Sound area, that tolerance took place within a legal gray area--pot shops were neither explicitly allowed nor explicitly banned.

But when Gregoire got done with her line-item veto--which she used to take out nearly everything that was useful--patients were left in an even worse position than in which they'd started.

Not only was the long-sought arrest-protection portion of SB 5073 gone after Gregoire's heavy pen did its ignoble work; another casualty, and a crucial one, was the apparent demise of that "gray area" which provided legal cover for the shops upon which so many seriously ill Washingtonians depend for safe access to the herbal medication recommended by their doctors.

The bad effects of Gregoire's political cowardice continue to echo--nay, amplify--
as time goes on, as seen from examples such as Kent's recent (and reluctant) banning of the shops, solely due to Gregoire's failure of leadership. (Apparently our hen-hearted
governor needs federal permission to carry out her duties as leader of this state.)

Kent Mayor Suzanne Cook, who is in favor of medical marijuana, said she supported the state's medical-marijuana law when it was approved by voters in 1998, and that she "sympathizes" with cancer patients and others who rely on cannabis for its medicinal and pain-relieving properties. But following Gregoire's gutting of SB 5073, Cook and her administration felt they had no choice but to tell the four dispensaries in town to shut their doors. "It's now very clear that dispensaries are prohibited under state law," said Mayor Cook's spokeswoman Michelle Witham, as reported here in Seattle Weekly.

Never mind that governors in several other medical-marijuana states have somehow managed to find the strength of character to sign legislation which formally licensed dispensaries in their states. Never mind that the sky didn't fall, and never mind that state employees have never been arrested in those states, or anywhere else, simply for carrying out their duties in licensing, regulating, and overseeing such establishments.
Gregoire still tried to dodge responsibility for her non-leadership by citing the supposed danger that state employees would be rounded up by federal agents, a threadbare excuse which is an unlikely scenario at best and a cynical and callow avoidance of responsibility at worst.

As I write these words, I'm in Alabama visiting family. Being in a state which assuredly does not allow marijuana has reminded me just how important safe access can be. Patients here have nowhere to go, other than the black market, for the medicine that works best for them. They're often exposed to physical danger, as well as an illegal network that handles not only marijuana, but other, far more dangerous, illicit substances such as methamphetamine and cocaine.

Is that really the kind of scenario the people of Washington want? Do we really want Washington patients--who in many cases are so ill that it's a cruel joke to expect them to cultivate their own marijuana--to be forced onto the street to buy medicine recommended by their doctors?

"Toke Signals" will return to its regular programming--i.e., reviewing medical-marijuana dispensaries and cannabis--next week.

Steve Elliott edits Toke of the Town, Village Voice Media's site of cannabis news, views, rumor, and humor.

Toke Signals wants to review your dispensary. E-mail tokesignals@seattleweekly.com.