Marijuana Hearings Continue Thursday in Spokane — New Questions Burning

A number of questions are being asked at state-wide hearings, but one especially keeps coming up.

As the state plods towards opening recreational pot stores, hearings held across the state seem to bring more questions than answers. Two such public hearings are being held in Olympia and Ellensburg Wednesday, another tomorrow in Spokane.

At several previous sessions, including one in Seattle Tuesday evening, the biggest question raised was:

How can the state have one system for medical marijuana, and a separate one with different rules and taxes for recreational use?

Sharon Foster of the Washington State Liquor Control board said at the Seattle session that was a question the legislature would have to answer. Proponents of recreational use, as well as those who wish to be involved in running one of the state stores, claim the different system for recreational use is unfair. They claim the taxes are higher, for example.

The state originally planned to have the stores open and running by December, but has since pushed that target back to March, or sometime during the spring of 2014.