Washington State Board of Health
(SBOH)

Task force members discussed drafting their report due to the legislature on December 1st before talking about what cannabinoid limits they’d recommend for hemp in food.

Task force members tweaked work group recommendation language and planned for an additional meeting before their advice would be formatted for lawmakers.

Prevention interests spoke favorably of a bill to form a “behavioral health prevention and equity impact framework” at WSLCB, but the appearance of unbalanced representation raised concerns.

Some licensees, WSLCB staff, and prevention advocates encouraged lawmakers to pass request legislation on cannabinoid regulation, while other licensees preferred a competing bill.

After pushback for not acting earlier, council members formally and unanimously endorsed all of the recommendations of the Washington State Task Force on Social Equity in Cannabis.

Senators learning about delta-8-THC and other novel cannabinoids found the lack of control around youth access “very alarming” as they questioned WSLCB and CANNRA leaders.

WSLCB Director Rick Garza shared new details about the background, leadership, and advocacy of CANNRA as he encouraged traffic safety officials to affiliate with the organization.

Governor Inslee signed the biennium operating budget which appropriated cannabis excise tax revenue and other general fund tax dollars among more than a dozen agencies.

Policy and Rules Manager Kathy Hoffman walked the board through the past, present, and future of WSLCB regulation of cannabinoids aside from delta-9-THC in legal cannabis products.

Director Rick Garza discussed how his work for WSLCB and the organization CANNRA weren’t “separate hats” and identified states the agency would look to for model cannabinoid policies.