WSLCB - Executive Management Team
(December 9, 2020)

Here are some observations from the Wednesday December 9th Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting.

My top 3 takeaways:

• Staff updates touched on the agency’s communications, licensing, enforcement, and legislative work.
  • Communications Update. Director of Communications Brian Smith presented "hot topics in recent months" observed during his team’s media contacts which averaged “three to four per day.” He considered that “in normal times this would be more than most agencies would ever see” but WSLCB was one of the state agencies “impacted by the COVID stuff.” He relayed “five major themes that we’re seeing” from press outlets (audio - 11m):
    • General Non-Compliance. “These are localized stories” about non-compliant behavior by specific businesses “all over the state,” Smith said. He noted media interest in punitive actions WSLCB staff took, like an “emergency suspension for Loggers Inn” on November 4th, saying similar stories had occurred in “pockets around the state." Smith then explained the standard response to these questions was that in investigations of licensees the “intent is not the penalties, but to bring…the licensee into compliance."
    • Tri-Cities Bars. Smith recounted “a really intense period” in which he fielded “multiple calls a day from news outlets from all around” after a November 24th incident where WSLCB enforcement officers were thwarted from closing a Kennewick bar in violation of temporary restrictions by a crowd of armed customers, as well as a protest outside an officer’s home. He described the protest as “way out of bounds" as the officer was "just doing his job. He was carrying out the Governor’s public health directive on behalf" of the agency. Beyond the agency and police union condemnation, a Tri-City Herald editorial called the protest “no way to channel” anger over business restrictions, which Smith noted “we don’t see too often anymore on our behalf.” He believed most businesses were “putting up” with noncompliant “outliers” and following the rules. Chief of Enforcement and Education Justin Nordhorn added that Governor Jay Inslee had personally contacted officers “and expressed his appreciation for, you know, their efforts...helping people get into compliance” as well as “taking the guidance and the protocols serious[ly].” He added that Inslee asked about ways to improve “these types of things” and Enforcement staff gave recommendations and highlighted challenges. Nordhorn’s impression was that the conversation was “well received” in the division.
    • Social Equity. Smith described events WSLCB had “been a part of from the beginning" including the agency’s equity outreach events and the Washington State Legislative Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis (WA Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis) in addition to stories outside the agency’s control like “the Shawn Kemp story...which also raises the same types of questions.” He reported talking about the subject with the Washington Post “at length” and noted Director Rick Garza planned to speak with their reporter the following day. Smith shared the agency’s view that Initiative 502 “didn't account for people that were harmed by, disproportionately by, the war on drugs, specifically people of color.” He’d told the press that medical dispensaries at the time the initiative passed in 2012, including many who didn’t get licensed by the State, “varied from some people who actually paid their taxes and registered [for a business license] to many that never did.” Smith avoided discussing individual cases, instead telling reporters “how the system evolved over time.” But he conceded that it was “true that Mr. Kemp was, is the only Black or African American owner of a store in Seattle” and noted that demographic comprised 3% of retail licenses statewide. He credited the Board with recognizing that equity “needed to be addressed” leading staff to draft HB 2870 to create a social equity program and legislative task force. Smith also brought up a Seattle Channel segment on the subject and coverage by KIRO-7.
      • While Initiative 502 and the campaign didn’t detail an equitable licensing system for WSLCB, which Garza called “a missed opportunity” during the agency’s equity outreach, the campaign drew attention to disparate cannabis policing based on race repeatedly: in a 2011 video (“Marijuana It’s time for a conversation”), in editorials, public statements from supporters in The Children’s Alliance, regional chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Washington’s ACLU called attention to racially disparate enforcement again a year after I-502’s passage.
      • On a personal note, as a volunteer organizer and supporter of I-502, I found agency staff’s understanding of the law intentionally obtuse---bordering on dishonest---and disrespectful to the many I-502 voters and supporters who understood far sooner than WSLCB the terribly racist effects of cannabis prohibition. Being limited to a single subject on state ballot measures and focusing on cannabis arrests in no way meant backers of I-502 were unaware of nor indifferent to devastating disparities in areas such as economic development.
    • States that Recently Legalized. Smith stated that conversations had begun with staff at the Arizona Department of Revenue and regional media after citizens elected to make their state the 13th to legalize recreational cannabis on November 2nd. Additionally, agency leadership hosted a WebEx with Montana officials “to help answer their questions” after voters there passed another legal cannabis measure.
    • Cannabis Use During COVID.  Beginning in March, Smith explained, the agency had gone from consistently seeing 10% year-over-year (YOY) growth in monthly cannabis sales “to 20, 30, 40% increases which is what we’ve been seeing in the months since.” He called it a national story that he’d seen in local media as well.
    • Board Chair Jane Rushford lauded the work of Smith and his team (audio - 1m) and Board Member Ollie Garrett was grateful for Smith’s help “with those interview processes” on social equity stories (audio - 2m). 
  • Licensing Update. Director of Licensing Becky Smith said her division’s “priority continues to be answering questions for our licensees," handling license alteration requests which had markedly increased during the pandemic, “and of course licensing renewals.” She then quickly listed other activities without going into detail (audio - 2m): 
    • Smith said the Licensing Division’s participation in the agency’s systems modernization project (SMP) was “going strong” as their business processes were up for analysis and transformation first.
      • Deputy Director Megan Duffy talked about the SMP on December 2nd (audio - 5m) and again during her EMT update (audio - 5m).
    • Smith indicated that staff continued to “work around criminal history” in advance of receiving social equity applications.
      • On November 30th, Director of Legislative Relations Chris Thompson told lawmakers this re-evaluation of existing rule and policy was underway.
    • Smith said agency staff had been meeting with “local authorities that have bans and moratoriums” against cannabis businesses.
      • Since the pandemic began to undercut local government revenues, the City of Everett voted to increase their allowed retail locations on October 14th and the Lynnwood City Council had begun exploring the possibility of ending their ban.
    • Smith remarked that Licensing staff were studying vertical integration of cannabis licenses or potential for farmers markets as they were “questions that Chris [Thompson] had taken.” Smith promised to bring what they learned to the attention of the Board and agency leadership.
    • Garrett expressed satisfaction with licensing incorporating feedback gathered during outreach events to get “prepared to have different outcomes” ahead of the social equity task force producing recommendations on licensing for the agency (audio - 1m).
  • Enforcement and Education Update. Nordhorn provided an update similar to his presentation to lawmakers on November 30th, going into more detail on the challenges officers faced with seven non-compliant alcohol licensees (audio - 12m). He later noted that WSLCB had posted job listings for two Compliance Consultant positions as the agency moved away from solely using commissioned officers. The new “compliance/consulting unit” already included “11 staff who are transitioning over into those positions, so we’re going to have a really good start by the first of the year” (audio - 1m).
    • Nordhorn talked about his division’s perspective on criminal activity with legislators on September 28th. More recently, WSLCB officers helped serve a warrant with the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force (TNT) which revealed an unlicensed cannabis grow in Puyallup.
  • Legislative Update. Thompson recounted his November 30th remarks to lawmakers including the agency’s late development of request legislation intended to make some coronavirus-related alcohol allowances permanent (audio - 11m).
    • At that time, Thompson said that “more than a dozen allowances" for alcohol licensees were being considered for “permanent status” in law. At publication time, no effort to make temporary allowances for cannabis licensees permanent had been confirmed for agency rulemaking or request legislation.

• The agency’s Cannabis 2.0 (C2.0) initiative was scaled back to focus on more general agency priorities over the next two years (audio - 4m) .
  • Chair Jane Rushford last discussed the initiative on September 29th.
  • Rushford started off by acknowledging 17 staff members who participated in an internal meeting on the project on September 23rd.
  • During that meeting, staff reviewed the July 2018 board priority planning session. Rushford said the four priorities board members outlined at that time were “already works in progress or...have advanced into a favorable space and place.” She then mentioned the first C2.0 meeting in the summer of 2019 where participants “clarified roles and responsibilities with other agencies, statewide versus local government responsibilities” and other issues.
  • Rushford listed “areas to explore” which had been agreed to as “priorities for the next 18 to 24 months”:
    • “Continued SMP support”
      • The SMP was initiated in 2014 and at publication time was budgeted $18.8M. Learn more at the Washington State Office of the Chief Information Officer (WA OCIO) Project Dashboard.
      • This project was the only area Chief Financial Officer Jim Morgan identified where WSLCB planned to request a budget increase in 2021.
    • “Continue our workforce support” for teleworking staff
      • During her update, Duffy explained that Governor Inslee had recommended State employees work remotely through June 2021.
    • “Consistent training and application of new rules, laws, and policies”
    • “Inclusion/Equity for future licenses”
    • “Public Safety, including product standards and testing”
      • Learn more about the agency’s Quality Control (QC) Testing and Product Requirements rulemaking project
    • “Review and identify what rules are necessary”
    • “Traceability system revisions, if any”
      • Rushford later asked Duffy to speak about traceability. Duffy commented that the last meeting of the Traceability 2.0 Work Group had been October 9th and facilitated “a better understanding of the requirements that different folks have.” She said staff were taking the feedback and “asses[ing] where the agency is and the external environment is with regard to cannabis” and would bring possibilities back to the work group. Duffy summarized the agency’s current goal for Leaf Data Systems was simply to “keep it as stable as possible for folks” (audio - 2m).
    • “Access to medically compliant products and advice”
      • SB 5004, “Providing a tax exemption for medical marijuana patients,” was prefiled on December 8th by Senator Karen Keiser who mentioned the bill during a November 30th work session.
    • “Clarify rules, responsibilities, and relationships with other agencies”
  • Rushford noted a change in November 2019 away from broad collaboration among agencies with cannabis jurisdiction in favor of “one-on-one” meetings. She promised to “continue to build” bridges among agencies, even though she would not seek another term on the Board.

• Wrapping up, Board Chair Jane Rushford briefly addressed the function of EMT events as “the only chance we have” for the full Board to hear from staff “and have this level of discussion” (audio - 1m).
  • Rushford said EMTs were one of the only chances for the Board “to hear each others’ questions and interest” and that they would be “trying to schedule an EMT at least once a month in 2021.”
  • Cannabis Observer Founder Gregory Foster previously addressed the Board on the negative effects of diminished transparency at the agency due to the cancellation of over 90% of scheduled EMT meetings in 2020.

Here are some observations from the Wednesday December 9th Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting. Today we cover Public Health Education Liaison Sara Cooley Broschart’s update.

My top 2 takeaways:

• Broschart was a leading voice for substance use prevention in the agency’s consideration of public health, and was the key coordinator between prevention advocates and the WSLCB in recent years.
  • Broschart discussed the 2019 Healthy Youth Survey (HYS) at length with board members in January 2020. She explained that “prevention services in the state of Washington are based in communities through coalitions, and there’s over 80” adding, “most of the work is being done locally.”
  • Broschart outlined other partnerships she’d been involved with on behalf of the agency:
    • The Youth Marijuana Prevention Education Program (YMPEP) which Broschart said was mostly funded by the Dedicated Marijuana Account.
    • The Washington State Prevention Enhancement Policy Consortium which created a five-year strategic plan for Substance Use Disorder Prevention and Mental Health Promotion. Broschart called the document an “amazing read.”
    • The Washington Impaired Driving Advisory Council (WIDAC), a program of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC)
    • The University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute (UW ADAI)
    • The Washington State Health Care Authority (WA HCA) Behavioral Health and Recovery Division (BHRD) Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative (CPWI) which Broschart explained represented most of the community coalitions in the state.
    • Drug Free Communities (DFC) Coalitions which were funded by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
    • At the time, Broschart planned to “reach more of them in 2020” as her “vision for the program” was to “build prevention and public health engagement in our rulemaking process.” She aimed to “achieve parity” so that “we’ve got as many prevention and public health voices in the room as we do other stakeholders.”
  • In the fall of 2019, Broschart was at the forefront of the WSLCB response to the vaping-associated lung injury (VALI) health scare and represented WSLCB when the Washington State Board of Health (SBOH) initiated rulemaking to ban vitamin E acetate from vapor products on March 11th.
  • Broschart had been on maternity leave before returning to work October 1st according to remarks from Board Chair Jane Rushford on September 1st. At that time, Cannabis Observer reported that a policy tracking spreadsheet from the agency's COVID - Legal/Policy/Rules team showed that Broschart and staff at the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) as well as the WA HCA BHRD inquired about “data on alcohol and marijuana sales to use as an indicator of use, and to forecast the adverse behavioral health effects due to the COVID-19 pandemic” on May 22nd. The document noted the request was “resolved quickly by Sara and Brian [Smith, Director of Communications].”
  • Other recent public health and prevention-focused events Cannabis Observer has tracked include:
    • Staff from WA HCA hosted a webinar on “Impacts of Marijuana Legalization in Washington” on September 29th.
    • A University of Washington professor led a webinar on the “Pharmacology of Cannabis” on October 29th.
    • WA HCA organized the 2020 Washington State Prevention Summit on November 4th which included a session titled “A Couple of Things About Cannabis.” During that session, presenters released “Cannabis Concentration and Health Risks,” a report which described research around the question “is high potency cannabis use safe for the citizens of Washington State?” A follow up webinar on that presentation, “The More the Merrier? THC Potency in the Legalization Era,” was planned for December 17th.
    • WSLCB Policy and Rules Manager Kathy Hoffman hosted an advocacy and rulemaking webinar to train public health representatives and prevention advocates on November 12th, and noted Broschart was advancing a youth use prevention message with the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA).
    • Staff from the Washington Poison Center (WAPC) organized a webinar titled “Let's Talk Cannabis: A Capacity-Building Training for Influential Adults” on December 9th. 

• Broschart reviewed public health and prevention activities by the agency while sharing selected research and external communications (audio - 13m).
  • Broschart began her presentation summarizing “the input we’ve been getting from prevention/public health communities since the onset of Stay Home, Stay Healthy,” the proclamation from Governor Jay Inslee addressing the coronavirus pandemic. She wanted to inform the Board ahead of the 2021 legislative session about the “top level highlight[s]” of several “really robust policy discussions” she had participated in with stakeholder groups.
  • Broschart acknowledged the fiscal strain on the agency as well as on many WSLCB licensees due to COVID-19 restrictions, saying it was “obvious to me and to most of our public health community members. So, they just want to be sure, I think, overall, that public health impacts” were considered to avoid anticipated “unintentional consequences” from the agency's coronavirus response.
  • “We definitely need to listen to science," Broschart said of policy decisions, “and again, LCB’s been great at doing that.” She stated "the research is clear about the impact of increasing access and availability of alcohol.” While the “newness” of legal cannabis made comparable research “less extensive,” she nonetheless argued that “these lessons can likely be applied to cannabis” as well.
  • Broschart explained that the American Public Health Association (APHA) “has weighed in” against the loosening of alcohol regulations in the wake of the pandemic. Broschart said it was a “really big deal” as APHA represented some of the “foremost” experts on the COVID-19 crisis. She then mentioned a study from Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research which found “the most drinking and the most problem drinking that we’ve seen since [alcohol] prohibition” had been identified prior to COVID-19. Broschart shared APHA’s view that those from communities “already disproportionately burdened by the pandemic” were likely to “be more impacted by” negative outcomes.
    • In their news release, APHA President Lisa Carlson was quoted as saying the public health community “should be squarely at the table in policy discussions around alcohol regulations in general, and certainly during the pandemic.”
    • The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study on “Changes in Adult Alcohol Use and Consequences During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US” on September 29th.
  • Broschart told the group she’d invited Boston University Professor David Jernigan and Beatriz Carlini, a UW School of Public Health Affiliate Associate Professor, to speak to WSLCB Policy and Rules staff “about the public health consequences” stemming from the pandemic. She shared information on the “consequences” of temporary alcohol allowances given financial and emotional pressures members of the public experienced throughout the year. Broschart said researchers had “looked at other disasters to analyze the impacts of these kinds of stresses on alcohol use” and had urged agency leaders evaluating whether to make some allowances permanent to keep harms in mind when “considering their continuance.”
  • She reported that Jernigan provided data suggesting “increases in violence and domestic violence” in addition to child abuse in the short term with “long term consequences” like greater alcohol dependence/use by “women, older adults, racial/ethnic minorities” all groups that she said were “at times disproportionately impacted with negative” outcomes from alcohol use. Broschart conveyed that health officials “realize we're not going to be able to revert back to life as we know it” in a number of ways “and this would be one of them.” The cumulative impact of temporary allowances amounted to "turning the dial up across many" different issues of access, she argued.
  • Broschart next talked about “correspondence with LCB” and showed a list “of all the different groups that we have heard from at LCB since April.” The list included:
    • King County YMPEP
    • Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention (WASAVP)
    • Olympic Educational Service District 114 YMPEP
    • Okanogan County Community Coalition
    • WHY Coalition and “several of the CPWI coalitions” through the Athena Forum at WA HCA
    • Mary Segawa, who held the Public Health Education Liaison position at WSLCB before Broschart, “sent a note.”
      • Following her departure from WSLCB, Segawa became an independent consultant and educator for public policy and substance use disorder prevention. She worked with the Northwest Prevention Technology Transfer Center (NW PTTC) to facilitate webinars, including “Activating Communities for Change” and “Advocacy Essentials for Prevention Practitioners.”
      • Segawa recently collaborated with Oregon Health Authority Principal Researcher Julia Dilley to develop “A Prevention Practitioners' Toolkit to Understanding R10 State Cannabis Policies and Regulations” for NW PTTC. The toolkit consists of six documents which describe “the current status of HHS Region 10 state retail cannabis regulatory frameworks and specific policies, highlighting their relevance for prevention” in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.
  • WSLCB hosted a prevention roundtable in June where “many individuals brought up” concerns about the temporary policies Broschart described. She noted two more virtual prevention roundtables were scheduled for December 17th and 18th.
  • Broschart added that “Prevention Voices is a new, statewide advocacy group that has formed, in many ways, to address this issue.” Broschart shared a document from Prevention Voices with agency leadership which she felt described “what the concerns really are from the prevention community.” Beyond “negative consequences” from increased use were projections of “increased social and healthcare costs” like more drug treatment spending “down the line.” Broschart said the group had concerns about both alcohol and cannabis allowances including “enforcement issues” such as age verification. 
    • Prevention Voices hosted an organizing webinar in early July and has asked staff from the Washington State Legislative Information Center (LIC) to help train advocates in early January to participate in the upcoming virtual legislative session.
  • While Prevention Voices applied a heavy “youth lens” to their recommendations, she noted that Jernigan and Carlini had “concern across the population” around increased substance use. She repeated her observation that “as the social norms shift" in the direction of alcohol being “normative...the science does show that youth use generally goes up." Broschart claimed experts were finding problems around “third party delivery, and delivery in general, that have shown that improvement is needed” and pointed to a May 28th member advisory from the National Liquor Law Enforcement Association (NLLEA) as evidence the group was against permanent delivery policies.
    • The advisory recommends agencies like WSLCB “encourage its licensee community to follow best practice protocols for home delivery and curbside pickup.” 
    • On August 27th, NLLEA’s weekly update said of delivery and to-go service: “struggling restaurants say it’s a lifeline, letting them rehire bartenders, pay rent and reestablish relationships with customers. But others want states to slow down, saying the decades-old laws help ensure public safety.”
  • Rushford thanked Broschart, saying it was “important to keep these perspectives and this discussion in front of us” when attempting to help struggling businesses while keeping a “guardrail” in place supporting “public health and prevention” (audio - 1m).