Medical marijuana business blooming in Tacoma | Health

The number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Tacoma has grown by more than 500 percent since October.

The City of Tacoma’s Tax and Licensing office sent cease and desist letters to eight medical marijuana dispensaries in October. A public outcry led the city to announce that if dispensaries appealed, the process would be halted until clearer direction for regulation came from the state.

The city continues to send the letters and encourage appeals with the goal of consistency.

As of this Monday, they’ve sent the letters to 42 dispensaries.

Different parties have different theories on this influx of business.

Mark Fisk, a medical marijuana patient in Tacoma, says he believes it’s partly due to demand, and partly due to the influx itself.

“I know there’s quite a large demand – there seem to be new dispensaries opening all the time,” he says. “I don’t know if there’s a demand for all of the ones that have opened but you know how it goes with any new business opportunity – lots of people jump on the bandwagon.”

Former dispensary owner Justin Prince attributes the boom to demand, plain and simple.

“More are opening every day, are you kidding me? There’s a demand, there’s a free market,” he said. “It’s happening all the time and it’s not stopping.”

Prince doesn’t foresee the openings slowing any time soon. He says medical marijuana is like any part of the market and people are exploring every corner of it. Prince has seen delivery services, bakeries, and more.

“If there was no demand for it, there wouldn’t be that many businesses for it,” he said.

The increase could also be due, in part, to the perception of a climate that is relaxing toward medical marijuana patients in Tacoma.

Renton resident Don Skakie says the enforcement climate varies drastically from county to county and city to city. To Skakie, Tacoma’s dispensaries feel professional, and diligent about checking authorization.

The Tacoma City Council has said working toward a better system of regulation for medical marijuana is a priority. Deputy Mayor Lauren Walker gave testimony to state lawmakers in January about the need to include legal provisions for patient protection from arrest.

Advocates of upgraded medical marijuana regulations say patients are in danger of harassment or arrest. Since October, at least, that may have turned around in Tacoma as police have stopped enforcing dispensary-related issues.

“The climate is, it’s pretty good for patients. We don’t get harassed very often by the police. At least I haven’t personally ever been harassed,” agreed Fisk. “The climate is very good here in Tacoma as far as patients go.”

Police raids on the Tacoma Hemp Company and two homes associated with its owner last summer also prompted a public outcry and inspired the creation of a Facebook page titled “Tacoma PD Leave Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Alone.” The page currently has 1,456 fans.

The Tacoma Police Department has since taken its guidance from the city and has left them alone. They are will not attempt to enforce issues directly related to dispensaries until the state provides more direction.

Further north in Seattle, police would just like the dispensaries to stay off the radar.

“Our approach is ‘If you’re going to do it, be invisible about it,’” said Seattle Police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb.

He says the department’s narcotics unit only tracks dispensaries that have become a problem, and they’re not a problem until the community tells them there’s a problem. Right now there are one or two that the unit is keeping an eye on.

Because of this, Whitcomb said he isn’t able to quantify whether the number of dispensaries is increasing.

“We don’t track medical marijuana dispensaries, the reason being that they’re illegal,” he said. “That’s the whole thing. We know they exist in Seattle; we know it. We know there’s multiple. It’s not a problem for us if it’s not a problem for the community. The community lets us know what our priorities are.”

And according to the community, medical marijuana dispensaries aren’t an enforcement priority. The grey areas of the law make them an enforcement improbability.

“What would help everyone is clarification and it sounds like that’s happening right now,” said Whitcomb. “What to enforce and what not to enforce would be very helpful, specifically.”

Throughout the state, law enforcement officials, local governments, dispensary owners and patients are waiting to hear what will be the fate of medical marijuana sales.

Prince says he and others feel like they are stuck in limbo. He’d like to see the City of Tacoma make its own call on the issue, and say once and for all that dispensary owners and their patients won’t be prosecuted.

A group of pot reform proponents rallied at City Hall Tuesday to show their support for laws that would regulate dispensaries and help protect patients. One such law change could be on November's ballot if the Cannabis Reform Act gains enough support. Fisk was one such supporter Tuesday.

“I do think the new rules that the legislature’s coming down with will solve a lot of these problems,” he said. “We don’t want this to get into the hands of children or people that shouldn’t get it. We’re not interested in making in legal, just available to patients that need it.”