It’s
now been four years since Washington voters legalized cannabis. The
state’s regulated market has been up and running for nearly two and
a half. But despite being ahead of the curve historically, there’s
one area where Washington lags woefully behind other adult-use
states: delivery. Nearly every other—Oregon, Colorado, even some
newcomers like California—have delivery laws on the books. In
Washington, however, whether you’re a patient or a pothead, nobody
can legally deliver to you.
That
could soon change. Legislation currently being crafted by a team in
Seattle could revive a failed effort from last legislative session
that sought to establish limited delivery services in the state.
Though still in its early stages, the push has growing support among
industry members and could one day set up a system to bring legal
cannabis to your door.
A
memo sent late last month to members of the Cannabis Organization of
Retail Establishments (CORE), Seattle’s well-connected cannabis
retail industry association, announced that a delivery bill was
likely to be introduced during the next state legislative session.
Titled “[Action Required!] of Seattle – Outline of
Delivery Legislation,” the Oct. 31 memo asked members for input on
the bill’s proposed elements. It indicated that city officials had
been drafting the bill, and it suggested the outreach was as part of
a request by the mayor’s office for industry input.
David
Mendoza, a senior adviser to Mayor Ed Murray and the city’s chief
cannabis policy expert, acknowledged the city’s participation on a
past delivery bill but told Leafly he couldn’t confirm whether the
city is working on one currently. “The City supported legislation
that would create a legal form of cannabis delivery in the most
recent legislative session,” he said by email, “and we are
considering our options on how to approach this issue during the
upcoming legislative session.”
While
Mendoza couldn’t confirm the existence of a bill, Deputy City
Attorney John Schochet indicated that something concrete was in the
works.
“As
Pete and the Mayor said last January, we support legislation allowing
local jurisdictions to opt legal, regulated marijuana
delivery,” he said, referring to City Attorney Pete Holmes. “We
are actively working with the Mayor’s office and stakeholders to
craft legislation that would allow this.”
Any
bill the group arrives at would need a sponsor in Olympia to begin
its long legislative journey, and that’s far from guaranteed.
There’s also the matter of industry support, which was noticeably
absent from the state’s past attempt to provide a legislative fix
on delivery.
Indeed,
despite loudly calling for the city to drive out illegal cannabis
delivery services, which licensed retailers bemoaned as
insurmountable competition, the industry actually opposed the
prospect of a legal alternative. At the time, Stash Pot Shop owner KC
Franks told Geekwire lawmakers were “putting the cart before the
horse” with their proposed pilot program, citing concerns about
driver safety and unfair allotment of delivery privileges.
The
pilot program bill, HB 2368, written by Mendoza, Holmes, and
legislative sponsor Rep. Christopher Hurst (D-Enumclaw), would have
offered a limited number of delivery endorsements to retailers in
cities with over 650,000 residents—of which there’s only one:
Seattle itself. The bill’s announcement was timed to coincide with
a splashy anti-illicit-delivery enforcement campaign being launched
by Holmes’ office.
The
measure, however, didn’t exactly get a warm reception. Retailers
bristled at the idea that some stores would be permitted to deliver
while others were restricted solely to storefronts. Some raised
concerns over the apparent dangers of sending drivers out into a big
city with potentially thousands of dollars’ worth of cash or
product in the trunk. The criticisms were major deal breakers for
Seattle’s licensed shops.
The
bill nevertheless made it out of committee—with the crowd-pleasing
amendment that the program available to all retailers, not
just a select few. From there, however, it lay in limbo on the House
floor until after the voting cutoff date. The bill’s sponsor,
Hurst, retired after the session ended. Seen as the most likely
sponsor of another such bill, his departure left legal delivery in
the lurch.
News
of the new bill, however, breathes life back into the idea of
delivery. And although the retail cannabis industry’s original
concerns persist, operators do seem to be warming to the idea of a
delivery program—so long as it’s crafted in a way they can get
behind.
“One
of the concerns with the last delivery bill is that it was creating
an oligarchy or monopoly,” Shea Hynes, product buyer at Stash, told
me. “Our largest concern is going to be the safety of our
employees. For that, it’s , really important to have not just
cash exchanges and not just curbside drop off. I think those are
all really important pieces to the puzzle.”
CORE’s
operations manager, Brooke Davies, acknowledged the urgency of a
delivery fix and said that, while her organization remains skeptical
of delivery, they’d prefer to participate in a bill than oppose it.
“Our members do have some concerns about the mechanics of how
delivery would work, but we are committed to working with the city on
whatever they want to do,” she said. “I know why it’s a
priority for them. Part of the 502 initiative is obviously to
regulate cannabis, but another part of it is to keep people out of
jail for cannabis-related crimes. It’s really hard … to pass an
initiative like that and then start arresting people for illegal
delivery.”
She
cautioned that it was important that the bill robust,
addressing thorny questions of safety and equitability explicitly in
its text rather than through to-be-determined regulation.
There
are certainly still many thorny questions to answer, like whether or
not drivers should be permitted to deliver to residences within 1,000
feet of a school and what kinds of limits should be placed the cash
and product drivers take with them. But this time the city seems to
be making an effort to address them.
According
to the CORE email, the new plan would mandate that delivery
privileges be tied to individual retail licenses, not a newly created
category of license. Davies emphasized the importance of that, noting
that many of Seattle’s smaller stores are struggling to compete as
it is. Creating an additional license could increase costs, giving
bigger businesses a greater advantage. The bill also would not be a
pilot program but rather a full-fledged, permanent delivery system.
It would also enable other local jurisdictions to opt in as they
please, allowing cities outside of Seattle to participate.
On
the more granular level, the bill would also disallow curbside sales
and include limits on total cash and product. It wouldn’t
require delivery vehicles to be marked as such, but it would mandate
they have or sticker affixed to allow identification by
law enforcement. Zoning rules would be hammered out before licenses
are released.
Perhaps
the only point identified in the memo that didn’t match up with
priorities outlined by Davies was the issue of geographic limits.
Such limits create local delivery zones, akin to the service area of
your local pizzeria. The memo specifically says there would be “no
geographic limit.” But Davies worries that without those limits, a
large delivery service running out of a cheap warehouse could
undercut mom-and-pop retailers across the city. She noted the
San Francisco-based cannabis delivery app, had been poking around in
Washington since the first delivery bill was introduced.
Indeed,
according to the Public Disclosure Commission, paid
Washington lobbyist Jennifer Ziegler $4,000 in February, when the
previous bill was under consideration, and $5,000 again this
September, presumably when the city started reviewing the issue
again.Eaze’s intentions may not be as nefarious as putting small
shops out of business, however.
“We
don’t actually do any of the deliveries ourselves,” said the
company’s head of PR, Sheena Shiravi, adding that chief
financial interest in delivery is a platform that retailers
could use to streamline the process.
Liz
Conway, who runs public policy arm, explained of
a lobbyist as a means of helping build a system beyond Washington
State. “We keep our eyes on anyone who is making because
a lot of the time states will make a rule and other states will copy
them. We definitely want to best practices. The worst
thing that can happen anywhere is that delivery is done poorly.”
In
fact, the company’s app could be one of the key things
that Washington do delivery well. It tracks the progress
of deliveries in real time, which helps keeps drivers safe, Conway
said. It also tracks information on customers, discouraging robbery
attempts as well as attempted purchases by minors.
did
push back against Davies on the issue of geographic limits, though.
The company’s point? Limits help the black market. Removing them,
said Conway, helps make sure a legal, regulated market can serve
everyone. “If you only want highly localized deliveries, you may
not be getting to the heart of the illicit problem,” she said. “Our
experience in California is that allowing the market to serve the
population really has helped cities to wipe out those illicit
delivery pop-ups.”
Davies
disagreed, suggesting the persistence of illicit delivery in
Washington was due more to price than convenience. Though the black
market is certainly competitive on price, convenience remains a major
draw.
Perhaps
the biggest safety risk for delivery drivers is the cannabis cash
economy. Because of banking headaches, most retailers still only
accept cash. Tech hopes to help there, too. CanPay, a company that
offers debit services to , recently launched a service that
allows patients to pay through their phones. “We’re ready for
delivery when it comes,” said founder Dustin Eide, CanPay’s
founder. Retailers could require delivery customers to sign up for
CanPay as part of the registration process, thereby solving the “car
full of cash” problem.
Anyone
eager to see functional legal delivery in Washington should be
excited by the plan currently being constructed in Seattle. Barring
any major snarls over geographic limits or other technicalities, any
bill the city does come up with will likely be better positioned for
success than ever.
“Delivery
is great,” said Hynes at Stash. “It’s a tried and true method.
So when we go for it, let’s make sure we’re taking the time and
putting in the correct safeguards to make sure people stay safe.”
Story
Source: The above story is based on materials provided by LEAFLY
Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length
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