City informs medical marijuana businesses that they need to be licensed by state

Marijuana businesses that began operating after November 16, 2013 without a state marijuana business license are in violation of City of Seattle law and "can be subject to enforcement action" according to a recent letter to marijuana businesses from the Departments of Finance and Administrative Services and Planning and Development. 

In Seattle, 39% of high school students who use marijuana report using marijuana that came from a dispensary while 23% said they didn't know if they used medical marijuana.  While most high school marijuana users said that they got marijuana from a friend, these data suggest that a lot of friends get the marijuana they share or sell from medical marijuana businesses.

Source: 2012 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Seattle Public Schools

 

The Seattle PI reports that the letters were sent to 330 medical marijuana businesses.  With that many medical marijuana businesses in the city and so many high school marijuana users reporting that they use marijuana that came from a medical marijuana business, the link between outlet density and youth use seems to be, once again, supported.  Research done about alcohol and tobacco retail outlet densities repeatedly shows the link between youth use and the number of retailers in a community.