by Jack Mayne The recent Washington State Liquor Control Board lottery for a license to run the single retail store allotted to Des Moines has produced two candidates. They are, in order of their ranking:

  1. Greenside Group, 23407 Pacific Highway South
  2. Anthony Daron Newton, 24401 Pacific Highway South
If Greenside, for any reason, fails the board’s selection criteria – including the store site not be located near schools, day care facilities and other sensitive areas or have a criminal history, the next candidate will be vetted for the license. The liquor board is charged under voter approved Initiative 502 with regulating the retail sales of marijuana in small amounts to the general public. The board has allotted 61 stores to King County with one each in Des Moines, SeaTac, Burien, and Tukwila. Seattle will have 21 stores and there are 11 stores for unincorporated areas, including smaller cities. When will licenses be issued in cities and areas with approved applicants? “Hard to say,” said a Liquor Board representative on Thursday (May 8). “Each application is unique and we have thousands to process.” After the state grants a license, the Des Moines city government must approve the applicant. The hang-up in many cities in King County, are laws forbidding the approval of any enterprise that violates state or federal laws. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, although the present Obama administration has said it will not move to enforce the law in Washington state and Colorado, the two states where marijuana has been legalized for personal consumption “One condition of the (state) license is that in order to operate an applicant must be in compliance with all of the local authority rules and regulations,” said Liquor Board spokesman Mikhail Carpenter. “Essentially, that means that if they meet our criteria they get a license, but to operate they need to meet the city’s criteria. That makes the issue of zoning, bans, moratoria a conversation between the applicant and the city, not the WSLCB.” Effectively, any individual Washington city can decide not to have pot sales. The Liquor Control Board has said it hopes to begin issuing licenses in early July.]]>

8 replies on “There are two retail pot sales candidates in Des Moines”

  1. The approval of the Pot Law notwithstanding, this is yet another reason for the City Council to provide the DMPD with more officers.
    The introduction of legal pot into our society will most certainly result in more DWIs. It will happen with absolute certainty. Each DWI arrest takes an officer off the road for several hours, leaving the already beleaguered DMPD stretched WAAAAY too thin for crime fighting, let alone for officer safety.
    The Council is no doubt salivating at the opportunity for some pot tax revenues. But some of those new tax monies should go into law enforcement to keep the potheads off the road and to keep us safe.

  2. The approval of the Pot Law notwithstanding, this is yet another reason for the City Council to provide the DMPD with more officers.
    The introduction of legal pot into our society will most certainly result in more DWIs. It will happen with absolute certainty. Each DWI arrest takes an officer off the road for several hours, leaving the already beleaguered DMPD stretched WAAAAY too thin for crime fighting, let alone for officer safety.
    The Council is no doubt salivating at the opportunity for some pot tax revenues. But some of those new tax monies should go into law enforcement to keep the potheads off the road and to keep us safe.

  5. Boo, the comments section on this site need some improvement. It timed-out and refreshed, clearing away my most valuable response to the above comments. Such a witty and enlightening piece, the world will never get to enjoy my clever banter.
    In a nutshell:
    1. Arguments with little evidence have little credibility.
    2. There are already a lot of marijuana users in Washington, despite that it has yet to be sold legally for recreational use.
    3. . When it is sold legally, think about the new users–they may have not indulged in the past due to marijuana’s illegal status. Are these legal-conscious citizens going to contribute to an increased amount of DUI’s?
    3. There is little scientific evidence suggesting that increased marijuana use will result in staggering rates of increased DUI’s or crashes resulting from marijuana use alone. (See http://norml.org/library/item/marijuana-and-driving-a-review-of-the-scientific-evidence for further enlightenment)
    5. When marijuana is combined with another substance, don’t use this as “evidence” in the argument against marijuana. Mixing substances yields various reactions. When alcohol and marijuana are combined, marijuana is usually used AFTER alcohol consumption.
    When it comes to more getting more Police officers, if there is a need for more police officers, I’m all for that. It would be another positive contribution from the legalization of marijuana, if it could help to strengthen the numbers of our police force. I also think it would be great if the additional funds could be funneled into our education system.

  6. Boo, the comments section on this site need some improvement. It timed-out and refreshed, clearing away my most valuable response to the above comments. Such a witty and enlightening piece, the world will never get to enjoy my clever banter.
    In a nutshell:
    1. Arguments with little evidence have little credibility.
    2. There are already a lot of marijuana users in Washington, despite that it has yet to be sold legally for recreational use.
    3. . When it is sold legally, think about the new users–they may have not indulged in the past due to marijuana’s illegal status. Are these legal-conscious citizens going to contribute to an increased amount of DUI’s?
    3. There is little scientific evidence suggesting that increased marijuana use will result in staggering rates of increased DUI’s or crashes resulting from marijuana use alone. (See http://norml.org/library/item/marijuana-and-driving-a-review-of-the-scientific-evidence for further enlightenment)
    5. When marijuana is combined with another substance, don’t use this as “evidence” in the argument against marijuana. Mixing substances yields various reactions. When alcohol and marijuana are combined, marijuana is usually used AFTER alcohol consumption.
    When it comes to more getting more Police officers, if there is a need for more police officers, I’m all for that. It would be another positive contribution from the legalization of marijuana, if it could help to strengthen the numbers of our police force. I also think it would be great if the additional funds could be funneled into our education system.

Comments are closed.