Several longtime business owners in Seattle are calling into question the state’s methods of issuing the newest batch of marijuana retail licenses.
The state Liquor and Cannabis Board says it is now finished issuing the total 48 retail licenses in Seattle. It distributed the licenses based on a system where a person, who has either owned a marijuana shop or worked in a business opened before 2013 and paid all taxes and fees, was a priority applicant.
Some current shop owners like John Davis, owner of Northwest Patient Resource Center, are wondering why they were left out.
“I’ve done everything that I was supposed to do,” Davis said.
He and other longtime business owners are in the process of suing the state over the issue that they call a “mess.” They claim problems are over the process of bringing medical businesses into the state’s licensed recreational retail system. Last year, the Legislature gave the LCB authority to license new stores, with priority given to longtime medical marijuana shop owners considered “good actors.” [Read more at KING5.com]
