Observations

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.

Several stakeholders introduced themselves and started to network around increasing the capacity of the state to produce and process hemp into construction materials.

With the end of their legislative mandate weeks away, members searched for a path forward to advise on regulation of hemp consumables after a THC regulatory bill was signed into law.

The WSLCB Board planned to convene and initiate rulemaking on 2023 legislation prohibiting consumable products that contain “cannabis or any form of THC and alcohol.”

The capital budget included $5M for soil cleanup added late in the process in order to help agricultural sectors—including cannabis licensees—in north central Washington.

Legislators struck and passed pre-negotiated legislation reframing the relation of the criminal justice and behavioral health systems to substance use issues which the Governor signed the same day.