County & City make comments about proposed marijuana rules

Last week, comments about proposed marijuana rules were submitted to the Liquor Control Board by King County and the Seattle City Attorney.

King County comments
Among their comments, King County recommended that the Liquor Control Board could strengthen their final rules by addressing:

"1) Preventing youth access and use (Preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors).  The priority can be addressed if the Board:

- Further strengthens packaging/labeling and accompanying materials language (including rotating health warnings) to ensure parents, other adults and youth understand health risks to youth and children, for both usable and infused marijuana products,

. . . - Limits advertising in a manner that is consistent with alcohol advertisement restrictions."  

". . . 3) Minimizing disproportionate siting and neighborhood impacts by avoiding siting of multiple businesses in close proximity to one another, with particular emphasis on equitable distribution of risks and benefits of legalization."

All King County comments may be read by clicking here.

Seattle City Attorney comments
While King County asked that the Liquor Control Board limit marijuana retail density, the Seattle City Attorney expressed concern that there will not be enough marijuana retail stores in Seattle.

". . . The one additional issue we want to highlight is ensuring that the number of licensed dispensers is sufficient to meet demand . . . we ask that the Board carefully monitor supply and demand for recreational marijuana as soon as the licensed dispensers begin sales and consider issuing additional licenses later in 2014 for dispensers in Seattle if the 21 initial licenses are insufficient to meet demand in our city."

Seattle City Council ordinance
Later today, the Seattle City Council will once again take up an ordinance regarding where marijuana businesses may be located in Seattle.  The proposed ordinance would restrict marijuana businesses to large commercial and industrial areas, excluding historical districts.  Combined with Liquor Control Board rules requiring a 1,000 foot buffer between marijuana businesses and schools, playgrounds, and other places where minors congregate, potential places for marijuana businesses to be located are rather limited in Seattle.    Areas dense with marijuana businesses may be unavoidable.

Public hearing
The Liquor Control Board is hosting a public hearing about their proposed rules tomorrow, October 8, 6-9:00 p.m. at Seattle City Hall.