Monday, October 13, 2014

Political Pitch

As recreational marijuana rapidly blossoms into a booming state industry, mountains of municipal and county code must follow to regulate the bourgeoning marketplace. While the Liquor Control Board handles licensing and tax regulations, responsibility for health and fire code has been wildly devolved to local governments. The LCB pressures newly-licensed growers to quickly usher in their plants for operations, giving municipalities little time to draft comprehensive sets of appropriate health and fire code to regulate the businesses.
I’d like to write a story checking in on local health and fire code writers and how they are responding to the pressures of new I-502 businesses. I can compare their responses to that of code writers in Seattle, Spokane and other assorted local governments.

Why now: On the eve of election season, many states are interested to see how Washington is handling recreational marijuana implementation.

Sources:
Pullman Fire Chief Mike Heston: (509)338-3272
Michol Ann Jensen, Executive Assistant, City of Pullman: (509)338-3208
Brian E. Smith, Liquor Control Board Director of Communications: (360)664-1774
Seattle Fire Marshals’ Office: (206)386-1164
Pete Dickenson, City Planning

Format: 500 Words

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