The Cannabis Alliance - March for Homegrow - 2023 - Speech - Shelley Kloba
(August 27, 2023)

Sunday August 27, 2023 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM Observed
The Cannabis Alliance Logo

The Cannabis Alliance is a non-profit, membership-based association of individuals, businesses, government officials, and non-profit organizations dedicated to the advancement of a vital, ethical, equitable, and sustainable cannabis industry.

Observations

Following a march in Seattle, a legislative leader on cannabis shared how she became interested in sponsoring adult home growing legislation in Washington.

Here are some observations from the Sunday August 27th March for Homegrow organized by the Cannabis Alliance.

My top 2 takeaways:

  • Kloba’s comments addressed how she came to be involved in cannabis lawmaking, and how home cultivation fit into a broader need for state leaders to decriminalize some personal substance possession (audio - 5m).
    • Kloba talked about her history representing the first legislative district in Washington: “it has been my honor to serve in the legislature for seven sessions so far and I come to it from a background that is, maybe not the typical one for someone who's serving in an office. I was for more than 20 years, a registered massage therapist and I worked in a physical therapy clinic, so I understand people in pain and I understand the need for medications that are helpful and don't have the same kinds of side effects.”
    • She conveyed how “parallel to my career as a massage therapist, I was a leader” in her local Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), “and I like to say everything I need to know I learned in PTA because I served on their legislative side of things, and got to advocate for kids and families.” After this, she’d serving on the City Council in Kirkland where she commented council members “had a really deep conversation when the first licensee came to city council and was trying to get their license.” She noted that they were able to balance concerns of different stakeholders “to get to a point where both the licensee and the public were very pleased with that and congratulated…us on it.”
    • As an “accidental tourist into the world of cannabis,” Kloba viewed herself as building “upon everything that so many of those, the first line of advocates, have done and the table that you have set.” She mentioned that lawmaking was “actually the same process in the massage room as it is in legislation, strangely enough…you're faced with a problem” and “you get as much information about the problem as you can, you create a strategy to address it, and then you apply that strategy.” However, she argued that something which “often gets forgotten in legislature, is what I call the last step, which is the Dr. Phil step, you have to ask yourself, ‘how is that working for you?’” Since passing I-502, she recognized that there were changes around cannabis, “some nibbling around the edges, but we can't rest and we can't just say, ‘okay, done’...we still need to keep working on it.”
    • After thanking members of the Cannabis Alliance for representing “all aspects of the industry including patients,” Kloba committed to the home growing legislation. “Someone had left the legislature and it was a little orphan bill, and I thought, well that's not right,” she stated. Kloba noted, “in the atmosphere that we have had in the legislature where we tried to address the Blake decision, which was about illicit drugs and simple possession, there's a real appetite amongst the legislature, amongst the public to decriminalize low levels of possession.” Her goal was to use momentum around this issue broadly to help pass home cultivation legislation.
    • Wrapping up, Kloba said,“I really appreciate the awareness that all of you are doing this great campaign,” and felt it didn’t make sense that “growing plants at home is a class C felony. We need to change that and with all of your help, I'm hoping that we can get that done this year. And if we don't I'm not giving up so stay with me, people!”
    • In separate comments prior to the rally, Kloba indicated she was considering introducing a revised home grow bill in the 2024 legislative session, but had not settled on new language.

Timeline

Segment - 01 - Introduction - Caitlein Ryan (1m 46s) InfoSet ]
Segment - 02 - Remarks - Shelley Kloba (5m 54s) InfoSet ]

Engagement Options

In-Person

Cal Anderson Park, 11th Avenue, Seattle, WA, USA

March Begins

In-Person

Westlake Park, Pine Street, Seattle, WA, USA

March Ends

Information Set