The State Liquor Control Board has announced a new series of regulations for Washington’s recreational marijuana industry, which is slated to launch this summer.
The new regulations aim to right-size the amount of marijuana grown in Washington in response to concerns of overproduction. During the application process, would-be growers sought more than 2,800 permits for more than 40 million square feet of marijuana growing. An expert brought in by the Board estimated that Washington would 2 million square feet to meet customer demand.
While a surplus of pot might seem fine, it presents a problem complying with the guidelines laid out by the federal government. One of the Department of Justice’s conditions allowing Washington and Colorado to proceed with marijuana legalization was to ensure that no product crossed state lines. An overabundance of marijuana creates strong incentives for illegal distribution that would violate that rule and potentially bring about federal action.
To attempt to avoid overproduction, the Board made the following changes: Lowering the limit on the number of marijuana business permits per applicant is lowered from three to one, and reducing the amount of grow space that a licensee may produce by 30 percent. Applicants who sought more than one permit will have a choice of getting their fees refunded or waiting until the Board has determined that additional supply is needed.
The Board notes that these are the final tweaks in a year-long process to set up the regulations for the recreational marijuana industry. With these changes they are ready to begin issuing the cannabis production licenses that will bring the new market online.