The Week Ahead (June 12, 2023)
During a quiet public-facing week for cannabis-related policymaking, regulatory action continued around legacy environmental pesticides, rulemaking, and preparations for a new Director.
During a quiet public-facing week for cannabis-related policymaking, regulatory action continued around legacy environmental pesticides, rulemaking, and preparations for a new Director.
An environmental pesticide briefing laid out previous and ongoing actions by WSLCB, board members denied a petition related to the topic, and public commenters raised various concerns.
The group contemplated human safety guidance for different cannabis products, research on growing cannabis in contaminated soil, and implementing a new standard for THC detectability.
Staff brought the board up to speed on several cannabis rulemaking projects, and briefed on a petition seeking to raise action levels for a legacy environmental pesticide.
Arguably arbitrary thresholds and limits had come to predominate conversations around safety in cannabis products and how to distinguish hemp consumables in Washington state.
After a months-long search, a Colorado cannabis regulator was voted in as the new agency director to the satisfaction of board members.
Members and agency staff provided praise and criticism of research articles put forward by staff involving “Regulatory Science,” cannabinoid differences, testing results, and terminology.
The operating budget that reached Governor Jay Inslee featured more than a dozen state agencies which received cannabis revenue, or were budgeted for activities related to the plant.
WSLCB Cannabinoid Science Work Group members would be asked to help quantify the legislative mandate to ban products outside 502 containing “any detectable amount of THC.”
Rulemaking to implement alcohol legislation included a cannabis-related bill; public commenters gave input on cannabis traceability and called for more updates about environmental pesticides.