The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board announced a pair of raids on unlicensed cannabis retailers on the west side of the state last week. While both stores were in violation of the law for selling cannabis without a state license, one went above and beyond by offering a service that violated another law.
Caveman Medicine in Tacoma was operating an on-site consumption lounge.
Lounges aren't legal in Washington. But, of the 23 states that have legalized recreational cannabis, 10 have also legalized some form of on-site consumption. The first such lounge opened in California in 2019.
Washington's policy on consumption lounges is a point of contention between those in the industry and those who regulate it.
Chris Lane, owner of Spokane's Redbird Cannabis, told the Inlander last month that allowing on-site consumption — akin to a winery with a tasting room — would be the first change he would make to the state's rules.
"It would position Washington as a front-runner in the industry, encouraging tourism and supporting local businesses while providing a safe and regulated environment for cannabis enthusiasts to gather and enjoy responsibly," Lane said.
In an interview last fall, Justin Peterson, who owns Cinder, cited New Mexico's policy allowing lounges as part of the reason the Inland Northwest retailer expanded into Albuquerque.
"I think that's a huge thing. People want to be social, people want to go out," Peterson said.
Overall, Washington is home to rather stringent and harsh rules when it comes to where cannabis can and cannot be consumed.
Operation of a cannabis consumption lounge is punishable as a class C felony. The state defines a lounge as "a club, association, or other business, for profit or otherwise, that conducts or maintains a premises for the primary or incidental purpose of providing a location where members or other persons may keep or consume cannabis on the premises."
It's not just private businesses the state targets with these kinds of regulations, but individual citizens on their own property as well.
Not only is it illegal to consume cannabis in public, but it is also illegal to consume cannabis in places that are simply in view of the general public. Which means, by the letter of the law, smoking a joint in your own front yard could technically be a civil infraction.
On these issues, Washington's regulations are stuck in 2012, back when the state took a kid-glove approach to its then-groundbreaking legalization effort, and are now out of step with many of the more recent states to join the legal club. ♦
