Marijuana will likely go on sale legally in the Spokane area as soon as the first full week of July. Yhree licensees have been approved for Spokane after a final inspection. Ironically, none have yet been approved for the Seattle area. Some questions remain over the location of stores and producers.
County Commissioner Todd Mielke says he has fielded questions from citizens concerned that they have not been notified if a marijuana business will be operating in their neighborhood:
Mielke: “They’ve been calling the liquor control board it says that local governments are the ones that should give the notification. We’ve had our legal advisor look at it. Remember local governments are not issuing the permits, and rule of thumb the entity issuing the license should do the notification. We believe if it’s the state Liquor Control Board that issued the license, they should be the ones to give the notification.”
Liquor control board member Chris Marr offered a somewhat different explanation. He says his agency will inform the local governments where those facilities will be, and the local government has the option to inform the public:
Marr: "There’s never been a requirement, certainly nothing that says we are required to offer something to every resident there. It’s public information, I think the area he may be referring to is the Newman Lake area. I was contacted by someone there and showed where online and available each of those business will be located.”
Liquor Control Board rules summary: http://lcb.wa.gov/publications/Marijuana/I-502/I-502_Draft_Rule_Summary_IIIX_02-27-14.pdf
