As the annual Washington State Prevention Summit was convened, WSLCB board members would hear from two prominent public health researchers and undertake planned rulemaking.
Here’s a look at cannabis-related policymaking events on the calendar in the week ahead.
Monday November 7th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.
Tuesday November 8th
Election Day
Tuesday November 8th is the annual day for general elections of public officials. Please vote!
WSLCB - Board Caucus
On Tuesday at 10am PT, the weekly Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Board Caucus was scheduled to recur.
- [ Event Details ]
- Following the November 1st board caucus discussion with American Civil Liberties Union of Washington (ACLU WA) Director of Political Strategies Alison Holcomb to mark the 10-year anniversary of the passage of Initiative 502, members planned to host two researchers to discuss their findings.
- David Hammond, University of Waterloo School of Public Health Sciences Professor and University Research Chair
- Hammond was the afternoon keynote speaker at the University of Washington Addictions, Drugs, and Alcohol Institute (UW ADAI) Symposium on High-THC Cannabis in Legal Regulated Markets on September 16th. He presented findings from the International Cannabis Policy Study which is evaluating the impact of cannabis legalization in Canada and the United States.
- Julia Dilley, Multnomah County Health Department and the Oregon Department of Human ServicesDivision of Public Health Program Design and Evaluation Services Principal Investigator; also an Affiliate Instructor in Epidemiology at the University of Washington (UW)
- Dilley presented on “Public Health Outcomes in Legal Markets” at the UW ADAI Symposium, suggesting changes in availability and acceptance of high THC products contributed to increased use by adults and youth while giving ideas for monitoring and reducing this trend.
- David Hammond, University of Waterloo School of Public Health Sciences Professor and University Research Chair
WA HCA - WA Prevention Summit - 2022
On Tuesday at 12:30pm PT, the Washington State Health Care Authority (WA HCA) would host day one of the annual Washington State Prevention Summit.
- [ Event Type Details ]
- In collaboration with other state agencies and prevention organizations, the WA HCA Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR) hosts an annual Washington State Prevention Summit each fall in central Washington or virtually. The summit is described as "an enriching training and networking opportunity for youth, volunteers, and professionals engaged in health promotion and the prevention of substance misuse, violence, and other high-risk behaviors, in a setting that promotes cultural humility." The program also offers a youth track to get youth volunteers involved in prevention initiatives.
- Tuesday morning sessions are restricted to DBHR Providers and include “HCA/DBHR Statewide Updates,” a review of the State Prevention Enhancement (SPE) Policy Consortium 5-Year Plan, and a presentation on findings from the Young Adult Health Survey, likely by principal investigator Jason Kilmer.
- Tuesday afternoon sessions are open to all registrants and include a presentation on “Strategies and Tools for Educating Decision-Makers to Promote Community Health and Wellbeing” by Kathryn Bruzios, Brittany Cooper, and Kevin Haggerty.
Wednesday November 9th
WA HCA - WA Prevention Summit - 2022 - Keynote
On Wednesday at 9:40am PT, the Washington State Health Care Authority (WA HCA) would host a keynote session on the second day of the annual Washington State Prevention Summit.
- [ Event Details ]
- Jonathan Caulkins, Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, would present the keynote which was not further described on the event agenda.
- Caulkins was also a keynote speaker at the UW ADAI Symposium where he went over trends in cannabis consumption related to high potency products, aiming to dispel the argument that product prohibitions undermine public health goals.
WSLCB - Board Meeting
On Wednesday at 10am PT, the bi-weekly WSLCB Board Meeting was scheduled to recur.
- [ Event Details ]
- Several rulemaking actions were planned for the board meeting on Wednesday.
- Board members would likely adopt the CR-103 for the expedited rulemaking project to update agency Contact Information in the Washington Administrative Code (WAC).
- Given the transition to the Cannabis Central Reporting System (CCRS), the board planned to rescind the interim policy obviating the need to track imported CBD additives in LEAF Data Systems.
- And members would address John Kingsbury’s rulemaking petition on Customer Data Collection asking that retail staff obtain customer consent to retain drivers’ license information for marketing (or any other) purposes.
- In his response, WSLCB Policy and Rules Coordinator Jeff Kildahl imagined the regulatory and enforcement burdens would be too high, imposing new fiscal costs on the agency to verify that customer data in retail point-of-sale (POS) systems had been obtained with their knowledge and consent.
- On October 11th, the Product Samples CR-101 was projected to be on the board meeting agenda, but was not listed at publication time.
WA HCA - WA Prevention Summit - 2022 - Developing Statewide Assessment of Advertising and Retail for Cannabis, Tobacco, Vapor, and Alcohol
On Wednesday at 11am PT, the Washington State Health Care Authority (WA HCA) would host presentations on the second day of the annual Washington State Prevention Summit.
- [ Event Details ]
- Sarah Ross-Viles, Seattle and King County Public Health Youth Health and Marijuana Program Manager, would lead this session which was not further described on the event agenda.
- WSLCB Policy and Rules staff opened a rulemaking project on Advertising on August 31st.
- Ross-Viles was a frequent participant in cannabis policymaking events, most recently joining the Washington Hemp in Food Task Force on October 19th to inquire about the viability of “products that I'm wary of that [have] not existed, but could you know come up in a market that allowed for it, is a product that meets the THC limit but is a very small consumable, and a very affordable consumable.” She believed that prevention stakeholders feared that “a dollar a package, even if there's a two milligram limit…two and a half milligrams is enough to be intoxicating for a night” and that a bad actor could enter the market to “get around the the restricted THC market by just making a really cheap, concentrated product that doesn't have…relative Class A cannabinoids in it, that is essentially..a lozenge or pill, something very small” where “it's clear, the intention is that you actually buy multiple packages and consume them.”
WA HCA - WA Prevention Summit - 2022 - Re-evaluating the Prevalence of Poly-Drug-Positive Driving in Washington
On Wednesday at 11am PT, the Washington State Health Care Authority (WA HCA) would host presentations on the second day of the annual Washington State Prevention Summit.
- [ Event Details ]
- Max Roberts, Washington Traffic Safety Commission Research Associate, would lead this session which was not further described on the event agenda.
- Roberts presented his findings as "Improving and Understanding Poly-Drug Information" during the October 20th WTSC Commission Meeting. He outlined what amounted to a data cleanup method they have been developing which significantly realigned the poly-drug and single drug toxicological data they have been using which resulted in a ~30% decrease in reported poly-drugged driving incidents. WA HCA Substance Use Disorder Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Section Manager Sarah Mariani asked if that meant single drug THC incidents would increase, and Roberts seemed to confirm her leading question. Roberts repeated that the trendline of increasing poly-drugged driving incidents continued upwards, just not close to the rate which had been lamented very publicly by officials for years.
WSLCB - Executive Management Team
On Wednesday at 1:30pm PT, the three-member Board and agency leadership were scheduled to convene their monthly WSLCB Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting.
- [ Event Details ]
Thursday November 10th
At publication time, no cannabis-related policymaking events were scheduled.
Friday November 11th
The State of Washington recognizes the Veterans Day holiday.