Seasonal change and the approaching 2025 legislative session were signaled by lawmaker work sessions and a University of Washington symposium on cannabis and mental health.
Here’s a look at cannabis-related policymaking events on the calendar in the week ahead.
Monday September 16th
WSLCB - Focus Group - Minors on Wholesale Licensed Premises
On Monday at 10am PT, Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Policy and Rules staff planned to host a focus group on the Minors on Wholesale Licensed Premises rulemaking project.
- [ Event Details, Rulemaking Project ]
- On Friday September 6th, WSLCB staff announced their intention to host two focus groups “related to petitions accepted in 2022 to allow minors on non-retail cannabis premises based on an expired COVID allowance.” The events were scheduled “to discuss conceptual rule frameworks” and would “cover the conceptual rule framework for two scenarios”:
- “Minors who are children or grandchildren of licensees
- “Minors who are employees of contractors working on a cannabis premises”
Tuesday September 17th
WSLCB - Board Caucus
On Tuesday at 10am PT, the weekly WSLCB Board Caucus was scheduled to recur.
- [ Event Details ]
WA House RSG - Committee Meeting
On Tuesday at 10am PT, the Washington State House Regulated Substances and Gaming Committee (WA House RSG) planned to host two work sessions.
- [ Event Details ]
- Publicly announced on Tuesday September 10th, the primary legislative committee in the Washington State House of Representatives (WA House) with authority to direct cannabis lawmaking planned to host work sessions to hear updates from two regulators:
- "Cannabis, Tobacco, and Vapor Product Policy and Regulatory Update”
- "Washington State Patrol Cannabis Enforcement Update”
- Earlier on the day of the announcement, WSLCB staff briefly mentioned the upcoming work session during the Board Caucus (audio - 1m, video - TVW), and the subject was addressed directly in more detail the next day during the Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting by Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Webster (audio - 3m, video - TVW). Webster indicated WSLCB staff intended to use their time to provide updates to lawmakers on three subjects:
- HB 1453 Implementation. The Co-Chairs of the committee were interested in hearing about the implementation of the law to exempt registered patients from the 37% excise tax when purchasing compliant medical cannabis from endorsed retailers. Webster indicated their intention to also preview their potential agency request legislation seeking limited access to data gathered by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to validate the integrity of excise tax exemptions granted.
- Earlier that morning on Wednesday September 11th, board members adopted the CR-103 with final rules to implement the legislation.
- In marked contrast to all other active cannabis rulemaking projects at WSLCB, Policy and Rules staff hit every one of their originally forecast milestones to implement the 2024 law.
- Traceability. Webster indicated their intention to talk “very briefly” about seed-to-sale supply chain transactional data collected and used by WSLCB in part because he expected legislators would want to hear how they were approaching the data gathering requirements of HB 2320 (“Concerning high THC cannabis products”). Webster claimed “we are totally on track and CCRS [the Cannabis Central Reporting System] can get us the information that we need to answer the questions that they’ve set out for us.” But he also expected to acknowledge that “we’re beginning that process of looking into the next generation of traceability for cannabis.”
- Later in the meeting, Deputy Director Toni Hood noted that Krystin Boydstun, the first agency-wide project manager hired by Director William Lukela’s office, had started work and her first responsibility was helping determine the future of traceability at the agency (audio - 1m, video - TVW).
- DDE Remediation. Finally, staff planned “to do a review of the whole DDE/Okanogan County issue from 2023: how we found it, how we do testing, and what we’ve done since, as well as how we keep customers safe going forward.”
- HB 1453 Implementation. The Co-Chairs of the committee were interested in hearing about the implementation of the law to exempt registered patients from the 37% excise tax when purchasing compliant medical cannabis from endorsed retailers. Webster indicated their intention to also preview their potential agency request legislation seeking limited access to data gathered by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to validate the integrity of excise tax exemptions granted.
Wednesday September 18th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.
Thursday September 19th
UW ADAI - Symposium - 2024
On Thursday at 9am PT, the University of Washington Addictions, Drug, and Alcohol Institute (UW ADAI) planned to host a symposium titled, “Cannabis, Schizophrenia, and Other Psychotic Disorders: Moving Away from Reefer Madness Toward Science.”
- [ Conference Details ]
- A project of the Institute’s Cannabis Education and Research Program (CERP), the in-person and virtual event would bring together a diverse group of speakers for a full agenda with funding from “the Washington State Legislature through ESSB 5187 (2023) and by the University of Washington’s Cannabis Dedicated Account.“
- Two years prior, UW ADAI staff hosted their first symposium on “High-THC Cannabis in Legal Regulated Markets.”
WSLCB - Focus Group - Minors on Wholesale Licensed Premises
On Thursday at 2pm PT, WSLCB Policy and Rules staff planned to host a second focus group on the Minors on Wholesale Licensed Premises rulemaking project.
Friday September 20th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.