City of Lynnwood - City Council - Work Session
(June 16, 2025) - Preventionist Cannabis Retail

City of Lynnwood - City Council - Work Session (June 16, 2025) - Preventionist Cannabis Retail - Takeaways
[ Event Details ]

As members contemplated ending a decade-old restriction on cannabis retail businesses, a prevention-oriented State legislator offered suggestions for a “home run” implementation.

Here are some observations from the Monday June 16th Lynnwood City Council Work Session.

My top 4 takeaways:

  • Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell began the discussion on retail cannabis by noting the city's historical moratorium against the businesses, while Council President Nick Coelho added context for inviting public health experts, and expressed his view on integrating legal cannabis businesses sustainably.
    • The council had been considering modifying their moratorium on cannabis businesses—first passed in 2015—and members requested additional information from City officials on the proposal during a previous work session on May 5th.
    • During the work session, Frizzell acknowledged the topic had been brought before the council multiple times over the years since cannabis had been legalized in 2012, but previous councils had "voted for a moratorium on allowing cannabis retailers inside of the City of Lynnwood.” She framed the work session as an opportunity for the council to decide "where do we want to go with that? Where do we sit?" (audio - 2m, video)
    • Coelho explained that he’d invited public health experts to attend for “additional context” on the topic (audio - 1m, video).
    • Lynnwood Community Planner Karl Almgren, Principal Planner Rebecca Samy, and Planner Zack Spencer presented proposed zoning and buffer requirements for potential cannabis retail locations in the city. It illustrated how state laws and future park developments would significantly impact available commercial areas. Almgren introduced the presentation, emphasizing the "intention... is to really help identify some of the considerations for potentially constructing the ordinance in July." He clarified that their expertise primarily related to "zoning, and its relationship to the community,” but the conversation would help staff prepare for future council meetings on the topic (audio - 1m, video, Report).
    • Samy outlined their project schedule, explaining that after the current discussion on mapping, the council would reconvene July 14th for an "item by item voting process to help create and refine that ordinance” (audio - 6m, video).
      • After reviewing the history around cannabis legalization and the city’s ordinance against state licensed businesses, Samy reminded the council of the Planning Commission recommendation from September 2024. The commission advised allowing retail cannabis in Highway 99 mixed-use, general commercial, and Alderwood zones in Lynnwood, subject to specific buffer distances.
      • Samy detailed the state laws (RCW chapter 69.50 and WAC 314.55) that identify Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) regulatory roles, including rules on locations, distances from restricted entities, advertisement, licensing, and enforcement. She called attention to the fact that "local jurisdictions do have the option to reduce the buffer from the listed entities, with the exception of elementary or secondary schools and public playgrounds.” Samy noted the standard state buffer was 1000 feet, which could be reduced to a minimum of 100 feet for certain uses.
    • Spencer visually demonstrated the impact of the 1000-foot buffer, explaining that WSLCB measured this distance "in a straight line from the property line of the proposed business location to the property line of the restricted location.” He presented maps showing the "extent of the 1000 foot buffer from all of the restricted entities in and very closely next to the city because the boundaries can go over city borders.” Spencer also clarified that existing retailers in Edmonds were more than 1000 feet from restricted entities like College Place Public Schools and the Lynnwood golf course (audio - 11m, video).
      • Spencer analyzed various retail zones, noting that the city General Commercial zone, primarily along Highway 99, was one of the "least restricted commercial zones" and therefore suitable for cannabis retail. He explained that the Highway 99 mixed-use zone and City Center zone also had potential, but areas within City Center would be heavily impacted by development planned for parks.
      • Spencer concluded that other zones, such as Alderwood, Planned Commercial Development, and Neighborhood Commercial, would likely be “infeasible” without buffer reductions due to their proximity to restricted and residential areas.
      • On June 4th, WSLCB approved a CR-101 on rulemaking which could revise their standards for measuring buffer distances. Public comment on this proposal remained open until July 4th.
    • Samy and Spencer showed how adjusting the 1000-foot buffer could affect available parcels. They found reducing it to 100 feet significantly increased permissible parcels, particularly in City Center and Alderwood. Conversely, they relayed that increasing the buffer to 1500 or 2000 feet would result in "de facto clustering" of potential locations along North Highway 99 (audio - 1m, video).
    • Almgren concluded the presentation by reiterating the need for clear direction from the group on desired buffer distances, along with other considerations ahead of the July council meeting. He mentioned that the packet included an analysis from the city of Everett comparing crime rates at age-restricted businesses, including retail cannabis (audio - 2m, video).
      • “One thing that would explicitly help us at this time is really clarifying the considerations regarding the city's commitment to Town Square Park,” said Almgren, “as well as our development agreement with Merlone Geier [Partners] on their future parks at North Line Village as that does have specific impacts on the City Center areas.” The city government had “adopted the intent to provide park access within 10 minute walk,” he noted, but “the area that we could allow retail cannabis in is actually the area we have the least amount of park access to. So as we consider how this relates to our other policies, that's an important one and an important distinction to highlight in [the] relationship as we discuss Highway 99.”
      • Cannabis zoning materials presented included maps for neighboring Mountlake Terrace and Mukilteo, plus future land use for Edmonds.
  • Washington State Representative Lauren Davis presented a comprehensive overview of the public health risks she associated with retail cannabis, calling for stringent local regulations due to increased cannabinoid concentrations and the “addictive” nature of commercial products; while Snohomish County Health Department Healthy Community Specialist Brittany Bevis-Sciuto presented data indicating that youth in Snohomish County perceived cannabis as highly accessible with low associated risks (audio - 15m, video).
    • Davis, a legislator focused on “addiction and mental health challenges,” explained that when Washington legalized cannabis in 2012, it effectively commercialized the active chemical, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). “You can actually buy a product that is 99% potent. So we've seen a 10 fold increase in potency from the time of legalization to today,” she asserted. Davis felt for-profit businesses would attempt to “have [their] existing customers buy more” by making it more addictive through higher potency. Her favored analogy was talking about different opioids: “we don't have a Vicodin epidemic. We don't even have a heroin epidemic anymore. We have a fentanyl epidemic. And the reason that people are dropping dead is because fentanyl is uniquely potent, much, much more potent than those other products.”
    • Davis detailed negative health outcomes from cannabis, naming cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), a cyclic vomiting disorder, and critically, the unique association cannabis seemed to have with psychosis. She claimed higher concentration products lowered a “threshold to develop psychosis" in all humans. Davis also claimed that among those presenting with cannabis-induced psychosis, “half will have a diagnosis of schizophrenia within eight years.” She stressed there was no cure for schizophrenia, and those diagnosed tended to die "25 years younger.”
    • According to Davis, 98% of cannabis sales were to “cannabis consumers in the state of Washington [who] either have substance use disorder or are heavy cannabis users, or both, so, or are under age.” She emphasized her belief this included low-income individuals and those with mental illness. Davis called access to retail cannabis "undisputed" in its association with negative outcomes for adolescents, such as increased problematic use and greater perceived availability. For adults, she commented that increased frequency of use and cannabis-related hospitalizations during pregnancy were risks associated with retail access.
      • Davis specified that of all cannabis sales in Washington, “7% are actually underage and using fake IDs, etcetera,” without providing a source for her estimate.
        • WSLCB Enforcement and Education staff routinely hire youth to attempt to purchase controlled substances at alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis retailers. The WSLCB Research Program annually publishes a “Youth Access Compliance Checks Dashboard” which reports that targeted cannabis retailers have historically achieved an average compliance rate of 94.4%.
        • The inverse percentage (5.6%), which could be referred to as a ‘youth access non-compliance rate,’ is close to Davis’ statistic.  However, to presume that number is representative of actual sales to children would necessitate an assumption that every patron to cannabis retail businesses is a child: 94.4% would be proactively identified as underage by retail staff, while the rest would circumvent security measures. That is not a reasonable assumption.
        • Put another way, WSLCB compliance rate data—which is by no measure a representative sample from which projections should be made—indicate roughly 1 in 17 attempts by underage persons to purchase cannabis from licensed retailers in Washington state may be successful.  For successful purchases to comprise 5.6% of overall sales, Washington children would have to be attempting to purchase cannabis at rates roughly equivalent to adults - meaning retail staff would be denying half of the attempted visits to their establishments every day.  Anecdotally, this does not appear to be the case.
        • WSLCB board members talked about the potential for false identification to be used in alcohol and cannabis sales on May 20th.
      • Regarding associations created between cannabis retail locations and particular risks, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) asserted a relationship to the prevalence of substance use disorders in a 2023 technical report. Another study, “Associations of cannabis retail outlet availability and neighborhood disadvantage with cannabis use and related risk factors among young adults in Washington State,” was led by Katarina Guttmannova, a University of Washington (UW) Adjunct Professor of Psychology.
    • Davis expressed her strong opposition to Lynnwood allowing cannabis retail, stating, "I wish that Lynnwood were not moving this direction at all, because the only way to avoid the type of impacts that I'm describing would be to not legalize cannabis in the city.”
      • While city governments lack the power to criminalize adult possession of cannabis or use on private property, Davis was likely expressing her preference for a continued prohibition on the public-facing market within Lynnwood.
      • At time of publication, Google Maps showed nine cannabis stores within one mile of the city’s boundaries: two south in Edmunds, two in Mountlake Terrace, three north of the city on Highway 99; and two to the east: one in Alderwood Manor, and another northeast of the city near Interstate 5 and Martha Lake Park.
    • Davis blamed the failure of her past legislative efforts to restrict cannabis products on a “cannabis lobby in Olympia [that] is incredibly powerful.” She insisted when she’d arrived in the legislature six years earlier, “the public was largely unaware. They were thinking, still cannabis, the plant, cannabis, medicinal…so they sort of thought the legislature was bananas to be talking about regulating.” Davis felt public opinion was changing, citing “more and more damning studies and more and more news reports, our emergency departments and our psychiatric units are full” because of cannabis use. She argued “the cannabis industry did exactly what the tobacco industry did in the 60s. They came in and they questioned the science.”
    • Were the council to move forward, Davis suggested that Lynnwood could explore pioneering measures like municipal potency caps, requiring budtenders to be trained on public health impacts (an optional component of HB 2320), imposing additional taxes based on product cannabinoid concentration, and mandating "very nondescript" building aesthetics with limited signage. She recognized that cities could be preempted from regulating cannabinoid concentrations, but maintained WSLCB had the authority to do so.
    • Bevis-Sciuto focused her remarks on youth cannabis prevention and shared insights from the Healthy Youth Survey (HYS), which provided a snapshot of youth wellness in the state. She noted that 43% of 12th graders, 30% of 10th graders, and 15% of 8th graders in Snohomish County perceived cannabis as "easy or very, very easy to get” as of 2023. Bevis-Sciuto suggested ease of access was a theme that also came up during interviews of youth groups in Snohomish County (audio - 4m, video).
      • Bevis-Sciuto highlighted youth perception of risk, stating that HYS indicated a significant number of students perceived low or no risk from regular cannabis use. Specifically, she mentioned 35% of 12th graders, 19% of 10th graders, and 16% of 8th graders shared this view. Bevis-Sciuto added that vaping cannabis was the "most common way for youth to consume cannabis" in Snohomish County, and that vape products often involved concentrates with higher THC levels, ranging from 60% to 99%.
      • Bevis-Sciuto echoed the psychosis concerns voiced by Davis, insisting that public health professionals were now observing "a causal link between these two things,” and “no longer an association." She was especially bothered that brains could still be developing until approximately age 25, making young adults "much more susceptible to these issues.”
      • According to Bevis-Sciuto, viewing cannabis as a “natural plant” was a misconception, arguing that “a concentrate that is 16 to 99% THC" shouldn’t be considered natural. She framed selective plant breeding as “intentional engineering” of cannabinoid content, and alleged naturally occurring cannabis flower had much lower THC levels of 10% to 15% or lower.
      • In subsequent remarks to the council, Bevis-Sciuto relayed that although her role was with the county health department, she was also a contractor for the Washington State Department of Health Youth Cannabis and Commercial Tobacco Prevention Program (DOH YCCTPP).
  • The mayor and every council member had comments or questions about the retail proposal, ranging from concerns about locations, to legislative action around high THC products, and specific restrictions the city could impose.
    • Frizzell inquired about the number of cannabis retail licenses allotted to Lynnwood by the State, and sought clarification on existing and potential security requirements for such establishments (audio - 4m, video).
      • She asked WSLCB Cannabis Licensing Manager Linda Thompson and Licensing Specialist Herlinda Brock how many licenses were allocated to the city. Thompson responded there were "four retail title certificate holders allotted to Lynnwood" and an additional "seven...that were allotted for social equity,” for 11 total licenses.
      • Regarding security, Frizzell asked about "other restrictions on the property as far as... bollards" and whether there were any "restrictions that we need to be aware of.” Brock responded that the WSLCB required businesses to "have security, like cameras in their businesses,” and Thompson further clarified that while the WSLCB had its own requirements, city officials could "add additional requirements as well" (audio - 1m, video).
    • Council Member George Hurst, who introduced the original motion to reconsider the City’s retail ban, sought clarification from WSLCB staff regarding the allocation of social equity licenses, and questioned planning staff about the lack of engagement with local cannabis license holders as stakeholders.
      • Thompson specified that the seven social equity licenses were for Snohomish county rather than Lynnwood specifically, and that one had already opened in Arlington, leaving six remaining in the county (audio - 1m, video).
      • Hurst also raised concerns about the absence of relevant cannabis industry stakeholders at the meeting, asking Almgren if the "four license holders" allotted to Lynnwood had "been asked to talk to the council." Almgren responded that engaging these specific stakeholders was "not the direction that staff provided regarding our work plan," as their focus was on providing information on mapping. He added that the inclusion of Davis and WSLCB representatives was at the “direction of the council” (audio - 1m, video).
      • Hurst inquired about State legislative actions regarding high THC products, specifically if lawmakers had heard her information and intended to take action around cannabinoid concentration policy. Davis explained her efforts since 2020 had faced challenges because "none of my colleagues were aware of it," and she faced pushback from cannabis interest groups. She felt “most Washingtonians have no idea what is being sold, and they also have no idea that it's associated with psychosis.” Her goal was "to cap the potency" and she had tried to draft a bill to implement several recommendations, including "taxation based on potency" and "raising the age of purchase of high potency products to age 25.” To date, she said her main accomplishment was "this sign at the point of sale," which she found "painfully inadequate” (audio - 3m, video).
        • The mandatory high THC warning signage was discussed by WSLCB leaders on June 11th, where staff shared that they were designed by DOH YCCTPP without industry input.
        • According to UW ADAI, other aspects of the law include:
          • A targeted public health and social marketing campaigns directed toward individuals most likely to suffer negative impacts of high THC products.
          • An optional training that cannabis retail staff may complete to better understand the health and safety impacts of high THC cannabis products.
      • On the subject of Lynnwood parks, Hurst questioned Almgren about the scale of the planned Town Square Park and Village Green Park, specifically whether the large blue area on the map represented "the whole North Line Village." Almgren confirmed that the entire North Line Village site was included because the exact location of the Village Green Park was not yet identified through parcel information. He added that "Town Square Park impacts the most number of city center parcels." Hurst also asked about the lease term for Goodwill, where Town Square Park was planned, and Almgren stated, "I believe we have less than eight years" (audio - 3m, video).
    • Coelho commented on the need to sustainably integrate legal cannabis businesses into the city, describing himself as “pro cannabis.” He told the group he’d invited Davis to speak because "no matter how comfortable you are in your position on any topic, you need to listen to critics" (audio - 1m, video).
      • Coelho also questioned the existing buffer zone approach, suggesting an alternative focus. In his view the established buffer zones resulted in "sequestering these businesses in a really... inequitable way across the city," hindering "access for seniors, [or] for those without cars" (audio - 2m, video).
      • Coelho questioned the focus on buffers around landmarks, suggesting that the issue might be "clustering them" and that "instead of focusing on buffers between…landmarks…like arcades, that I think are just kind of arbitrary and silly," the city "should consider buffers between cannabis businesses as an alternative." Without modifying buffer distances where they could, the proposal would be "cutting off whole portions of the city."
      • Almgren later confirmed that staff would "look at and consider how far that could potentially be and what that could potentially look like regarding the license holders.” Frizzell noted that Lynnwood's size of "7.75 square miles" naturally enforced restrictive zoning.
    • Council Member Derica Escamilla inquired about recommended restrictions for cannabis and also sought clarification on the possibility of a city-level cannabinoid concentration restriction (audio - 4m, video).
      • Escamilla asked Davis for a "really good list" of recommendations, including "limiting licenses," that Davis had begun to discuss. Davis said if council members wanted to proceed, "the more restrictions, the better.”
        • She cited examples from Quebec, Canada including potency caps on THC content, and prohibitions on attractive packaging or signage.
        • Dispensaries were “a state run entity. It looks like a bank. It is not attractive,” Davis said, “in Quebec it is prohibited to have windows that can see into the shop so that it's not, you know, attractive.”
        • She encouraged restricting edibles to non-child-appealing flavors she identified in the province like "beets and beef jerky.”
        • Davis noted that local authority might be limited but municipalities could potentially regulate advertising and mandate public health warnings.
      • On the matter of city-level cannabinoid concentration restrictions, Escamilla specifically asked WSLCB staff if "cities can restrict potency.” Thompson ambiguously offered there was "nothing in our rules that... says that a product…can be certain potency," and that she did not "see why not." Escamilla acknowledged this would be a unique approach, suggesting the city might consider "only doing flower, or things that we can regulate moving forward" to protect youth and act as “pioneers” in cannabis restrictions (audio - 2m, video).
    • Council Member Josh Binda questioned stigma surrounding cannabis, particularly in light of its legal status, by comparing perceived risks with those of alcohol, suggesting an imbalance in the focus on health impacts (audio - 4m, video).
      • Binda considered himself “pro cannabis,” but acknowledged the need for public education on specific product details. He wondered at what point the "stigma towards just marijuana" would diminish, especially given its legal status. He emphasized understanding "what the people say" regarding cannabis, curious if the public might also vote on potency limits via a ballot initiative.
      • Binda also drew a comparison to alcohol, noting that it was widely available without a "percentage limit of alcohol that can be sold," and citing high annual death tolls related to excessive drinking. He highlighted that his research found "none of this has been proven, there's any death related causes to marijuana." He questioned the need for strict cannabis restrictions, yet "nothing towards alcohol," despite there being "much more damage that's being done from alcohol than there is marijuana.”
      • Davis said that alcohol potency was, in fact, capped by the state (at over 90% alcohol) and that documented deaths and severe health impacts, particularly psychosis, were associated with high THC cannabis products. “While we don't typically see deaths associated with acute cannabis intoxication, I did mention the gentleman from Mount Vernon who was 25 or 27 years old, whose name was Brandon, whose death certificate does, in fact, list cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome.” She viewed these items as new "chemically created" products distinct from cannabis, and felt health concerns around the formerly criminalized drug were unforeseen. “This is a situation where industry has gotten ahead of policy makers, and the consequences are bearing out in terms of public health harm,” she stated.
        • While there are no spirits sold in Washington with 99% alcohol, 190 proof (95%) pure grain alcohol can be bought in the state.
        • At publication time, deaths directly attributable to cannabis consumption or CHS were rare and sometimes disputed. Several had been documented:
          • A 2017 case report of an 11 month old from Colorado whose death was attributed to a mix of myocarditis (inflamed heart tissue) and cannabis consumption.
          • A 2018 journal article which identified two deaths attributed to CHS.
          • A 2019 case of a 39 year old woman whose coroner attributed death to THC as there were no other drugs present in her system, and he couldn’t identify another illness.
            • However, the news report included a comment from Keith Humphreys, a former senior policy adviser at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, who said that, “We know from really good survey data that Americans use cannabis products billions of times a year, collectively. Not millions of times, but billions of times a year…that means that if the risk of death was one in a million, we would have a couple thousand cannabis overdose deaths a year."
          • A 2023 case of a 27 year old man where THC was identified as the only drug ingested prior to a severe heart attack, followed by a stroke, and death.
    • Council Member David Parshall expressed his concern that high THC products deviated significantly from what he understood voters to have intended to legalize in 2012, and he later inquired about specific measures the city could take to make cannabis retail as "boring" and unappealing as possible. (audio - 4m, video).
      • After lauding Davis’ leadership on cannabis controls, Parshall stated that he had voted to legalize marijuana in 2012, believing it would involve "low potency THC," but the products available were "very different” from what he expected. "I have a really hard time with my conscience voting for something that I know is going to contribute to that mental health crisis that I know is going to be damaging to our youth in Lynnwood,” he explained. Parshall wanted Lynnwood to set a positive example if the council moved forward with cannabis retail, encouraging them to "do it right” (audio - 2m, video).
      • Parshall called for "boringness” in cannabis stores, curious what Almgren could suggest about "what can we do in the boring department…if it has to go forward?" He liked Davis's idea of making it "as boring as possible" and recalled conversations with the police department where they wished to "not have the neon green buildings in Lynnwood.” Almgren joked that restrictions could turn local authorities into “being the fun police.” Parshall hoped to find "that sweet spot in the middle of doing it right" to “honor what the voters originally voted for in 2012, and also protect ourselves from the mental health crisis and protect the youth of the city” (audio - 4m, video).
      • Like Escamilla, Parshall was supportive of imposing city-level restrictions on cannabinoid concentrations in products (audio - 2m, video).
        • He felt opinion had shifted from a previous “no” on a municipal THC cap from city staff, to WSLCB representatives who suggested it might be possible. He wanted more review of that possibility, believing lifting the ban would be a "slam dunk" if "potency is not an issue.”
        • Parshall was also curious about Davis’s legislative ambitions, inquiring if she was aiming for "a ban on high potency cannabis for people under a certain age, or is increasing taxes on potency something that could be a stop gap there.”
          • Davis replied that she had attempted various measures, including a cannabinoid concentration cap and taxation based on potency, but had largely failed.
          • Almgren cautioned that the city would need to consider enforcement mechanisms, product testing, and potential business license fees if they were to regulate potency.
    • Council Member Patrick Decker was in strong opposition to allowing cannabis retail in Lynnwood, agreeing with concerns raised over mental health. He also had questions about funding allocated at county and state levels for cannabis prevention and cessation programs (audio - 1m, video).
      • Decker argued that “just because society legalizes a vice does not mean you should…legalize all vices.” He compared cannabis legalization to legal acceptance of “opium and fentanyl and all of these other vices.” Decker didn’t want cannabis any more available in Lynnwood than it already was, acknowledging residents could already travel "a couple of miles north if they really, really need and want cannabis.” He believed he had a better sense about cannabis than the public generally, and hoped the council would "continue to prohibit cannabis retail sales" since the "impact to society, [was] simply too great.” He also noted the influence of a "very strong cannabis lobby here in Lynnwood,” and claimed it was “very easy for anybody to see which council members and which council candidates have been lobbied by that particular organization. You simply look at the [Washington State Public Disclosure Commission] PDC disclosure and see who's donating to their campaigns.”
      • Decker questioned Bevis-Sciuto about the annual county expenditure on campaigns to encourage individuals "to not begin using cannabis, and to stop using cannabis once they have.” Bevis-Sciuto explained that her program through DOH YCCTPP had an operating budget of "roughly $35,000" but U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funds had been cut, meaning there would be less money in the coming year's budget (audio - 2m, video).
      • Decker then asked Davis for a ballpark figure on how much the state spent annually "to inhibit cannabis, or to cause cessation of cannabis use.” Davis couldn’t offer an exact number but confirmed it was "a lot smaller than it used to be," and probably a "couple million bucks.” She added that the original promise to voters, that funds would go to "cannabis cessation, cannabis prevention," had been largely "curtailed and put to the state general fund for other uses.” Decker lamented that this component was "almost eliminated," noting that the “original package was sold to the taxpayers, it was the use by responsible individuals was going to be, funds from that were going to be diverted to…help prevent those who are not yet responsible, who do have good judgment for making those decisions.” Instead he alleged it was "siphoned away to other things” (audio - 2m, video).
      • Decker followed up Davis’ prior comment that there was “intentional engineering and breeding” of cannabis, questioning whether products were specifically engineered by scientists for addiction. He wondered if it was true that scientists "have literally been spending millions of dollars to engineer that substance to make it highly addictive and highly potent,” transforming a "reasonably innocuous substance" which was criminalized at the federal level. Davis agreed this was “correct,” viewing overproduction of cannabis flower as incentivizing creation of "more and more concentrates" because "dried flower cannabis eventually goes bad.” She further felt that producers "have a financial motivation to sell concentrates" since they were "shelf stable" and "by definition higher potency because they're concentrated” (audio - 1m, video).
      • Considering parks in and near the city, Decker wanted to know if retailers would have to locate away from prospective development of green spaces. Almgren responded that it would "potentially" create a buffer, especially "if it has a playground, specifically" or if space was classified as "a public park.” Decker predicted that planned future green space "potentially will be another conflict area for us” (audio - 1m, video).
      • Decker also questioned the residency status of the four existing retail cannabis title certificate holders, seeking to know if they were “current residents of Lynnwood.” Almgren indicated that staff were "unaware of the answer to that question.” Decker was concerned about “businesses from outside Lynnwood, where they're coming in here to push their wares on our population when they have no skin in the game for what's going on in Lynnwood” (audio - 1m, video).
      • Deckers' final point was to challenge social acceptance of cannabis, where voters had “the right to say ‘we are okay with this vice,’ and then say, ‘but we are not okay with the next level vice, with the next level of health impact.’” He shared his surprise that the council would consider ending their ban, “making it easier to provide a substance, a drug that increases psychosis and mental health issues in our city.” He argued Lynnwood should "continue to prohibit cannabis retail sales…because the impact to society, is simply too great” (audio - 2m, video)
    • Council Member Robert Leutwyler expressed a desire for similar public health passion towards other issues like alcohol and fast food, and inquired about a WSLCB "hybrid high THC work group" that could potentially provide information on potency concerns.
      • Leutwyler remarked on what he perceived as a selective focus on particular public health issues, stating, "I do wish we had this passion for public health in other areas. We continue to downplay things like alcohol, fast food, from a public health standpoint.” He suggested that societal norms had changed, viewing American alcohol prohibition as only having ended “because of societal demands.” He further emphasized that while these public health areas were of "great importance,” they were often overlooked (audio - 1m, video).
      • Leutwyler then questioned WSLCB representatives about the "hybrid high THC work group,” mentioning an article he saw about Haley forming the group. He inquired if it "might be another possible stakeholder that we could invite out” to gain information on addressing concerns in conjunction with the cannabis industry. Davis praised Haley and the Research Program at the agency, claiming the focus group was formed "in partnership with the industry" after legislative efforts on cannabinoid concentration failed. She encouraged the Council to invite WSLCB Research Program members. Leutwyler gave his support for potential regulations on THC content, stating, "anything we could look at for the potency, and some of those…reasonable restrictions... I would support.” His desire was for council members to approach cannabis retail by "guiding this through that lens” (audio - 2m, video).
  • Frizzell and Community Planner Karl Almgren concluded the discussion on retail cannabis by outlining immediate next steps for the City Council and staff, emphasizing the need for clarity on specific considerations for an upcoming draft ordinance.
    • Frizzell recognized the extensive discussion, finding there was "a lot more to unpack here,” and invited Almgren to clarify the necessary next steps from the council (audio - 1m, video).
    • Almgren outlined follow up items for staff before the July meeting for council input to define a new ordinance. He promised staff would review buffer distance feedback with an eye towards “how far that could potentially be and what that could potentially look like regarding the license holders." Almgren also stated staff would investigate the possibility of regulating cannabis THC content, and the mechanisms required to enforce it, including "a specific business license fee for cannabis to offset any enforcement costs" (audio - 2m, video).
      • Other issues staff would look at would include examining "our advertising limits and then helping clarify additional increases in the point of sale for customers, such as a tax increase on those items.” Almgren requested that any further items for staff to research be emailed "as quickly as you can, and we'll continue our conversations with Representative Davis regarding the potency discussion.”
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