State lawmakers pursued a new plan Wednesday to provide medical marijuana patients with easier access to the drug and the governor's office said staff members were contributing to the bill just months after she vetoed a different proposal.
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles said she is optimistic that the Legislature can make some improvements to the system. The new proposal would allow local governments to regulate nonprofit patient cooperatives, which could grow up to 99 plants.
She acknowledged that the bill could undergo changes as it has some support and some opposition from both sides.
"I am very frustrated," Kohl-Welles said. "This is like a big puzzle, trying to put together the pieces into a coherent whole that will make sense for all the different groups. It is an extremely daunting challenge."
Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed last year's plan, which would have provided statewide regulation, because she was concerned that federal authorities could prosecute state workers.
Gregoire's policy staff members have been helping work on the Kohl-Welles' bill, although she hasn't officially endorsed it, said Gregoire spokesman Cory Curtis. She is separately advocating that the federal government reclassify medical marijuana.
Medical marijuana dispensaries have tried to operate under various interpretations and iterations of state law over the past few years. State law currently allows the use of collective gardens with a limit of no more than 10 patients or 45 plants, and shops have tried to continue operating under that format.
Local governments have implemented their own rules.
Under the latest proposal, nonprofit patient cooperatives would be prohibited in counties with less than 200,000 people — mostly rural areas — unless local jurisdictions enact ordinances allowing them. The cooperatives would be allowed in counties with a population of more than 200,000 unless local jurisdictions opt-out through an ordinance.
The plan would also create a voluntary registry for patients, something that some medical marijuana advocates oppose because they fear it could be used by law enforcement against patients. Kohl-Welles said other patients believe it would provide them a layer of protection by showing proof that they are qualified to have marijuana.
Don Pierce, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said his organization generally opposes laws that will allow illegitimate medical marijuana users. For that reason, they are opposed to the patient cooperatives.
"We believe they are dispensaries by another name, and we don't support that increased access," Pierce said.
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Associated Press writer Mike Baker can be reached at http://twitter.com/MikeBakerAP
