No matter who cashes in on the legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington state – growers, distributors and/or retailers – it seems likely that another group also stands to benefit: lawyers.
Initiative 502, legalizing recreational use of marijuana, was approved by voters statewide in 2012. The first recreational pot store has yet to open, but already talk of lawsuits fills the air.
The owner of an Olympia pub with a reefer room says he’ll take legal action if the state Liquor (and marijuana) Control Board adopts a proposed rule to ban pot-smoking in establishments that sell alcohol.
Meanwhile, a Pierce County Council member predicts that the council majority’s decision to prohibit marijuana businesses in unincorporated areas will drag the county into costly litigation.
“Seems likely” might appear to be an understatement of the prospects for a boom in legal business – except that not even that is clear: The state Supreme Court and bar association are trying to thrash out what lawyers can and can’t do when it comes to advising clients in the business of producing and selling marijuana – which remain illegal under federal law.
One thing that does seem certain is that much of this will wind up in the lap of the Legislature.