Washington State Department of Health
(DOH)

Updates to a more than five-year-old tribal compact, a rulemaking petition, and general public comments were on the agenda for the final board meeting of 2023.

Agency leaders went over what they anticipated dealing with in 2024, including “high-THC” regulations, lab accreditation authority, medically endorsed stores, and social equity applicants.

Lawmakers looked into how funds had been spent to help producers affected by contaminated soil and heard about a potential “service gap” in lab accreditation expected in July 2024.

An experienced toxicologist and epidemiologist joined the Policy and Rules team, plus updates on a rule petition and already open rulemaking projects.

WA HCA staff presented the newest strategic plan for substance use disorder prevention and mental health promotion, touching on the history, goals, and groups that created the plan.

As legislators sought perspectives on contemporary cannabis policy issues and regulators willingly shared, a group of publicly-funded prevention researchers kept their doors closed.

Staff laid out changes in the latest lab accreditation rulemaking draft, including a lower cost of implementation and a waiver process around in-matrix proficiency testing.

Staff went over how cannabis tax revenue had been spent, offered comparisons to other states, and recommended transparency improvements while fielding lawmaker questions.

State legislators would be prepared with details on cannabis revenues, appropriations, and retail theft while Ecology staff delayed accreditation rules to see how the session panned out.

Topics related to social equity applicants, research projects, and the approaching legislative session were brought up by agency leadership.