Marijuana entrepreneurs, law enforcement talk tourism at summit

The panel on marijuana tourism was held at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles and consisted of retailers, including Liz Hallock, of Stonehenge Cannabis in Murdock, and Margie Lemberger, of Margie’s Pot Shop in Bingen. Also on hand were Don Stevens, “Marijuana Mayor” of North Bonneville, and Sgt. Paul Magerl, of the Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB).

While much of the conversation during the marijuana tourism panel focused on bringing outside business into local retailers, a sizable chunk of the hour was spent answering general questions about I-502, one of the first being how legalized recreational marijuana jives with the National Scenic Area Act.

Magerl explained that when it comes to licensing through the LCB, the state will grant a license to grow, process, or sell weed as long as an applicant meets all of the criteria set by I-502. Moratoriums or other restrictions should be handled at the local level.

“It’s an area that’s overseen by the federal government, but the property is not owned by the federal government. The way I read I-502, it’s who owns the property, not who has general oversight of it,” Stevens said.

There were also multiple inquiries from the audience regarding how recreational marijuana and medical marijuana differ, where it can and cannot be consumed, and whether it can be transported over state lines.

Magerl made it clear that if someone purchases recreational marijuana in Washington, up to one ounce can be carried but it cannot be consumed in public view. Those purchasing recreational marijuana also cannot under any circumstances carry it into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest or consume it while camping or recreating there.

That said, Magerl added that he has had very few complaints regarding the public consumption of marijuana since retailers started opening in Washington in July.

When it comes to tourists and locals alike wanting to take product from I-502 shops across state lines, the panel as a whole answered in the negative.

“People from Nevada can’t cross state lines with their prostitutes,” Stevens said. “In Washington state it’s now legal to possess an ounce (of marijuana) or less. It doesn’t matter which state you’re a resident of. If you’re 21 years old in the state of Washington, you can carry an ounce or less of marijuana with you. If you go to an establishment, such as Maryhill (Winery) that doesn’t allow the consumption of (marijuana), you can’t consume it, but you can still carry it around with you.”

Both retailers on hand spoke to the current challenges posed by the recreational marijuana market in Washington, especially pertaining to high prices and availability of product. Hallock said most tourists that come into Stonehenge Cannabis only want to purchase a small amount of weed, but that most growers and processors will only sell certain quantities at a time.

I-502 does not allow retailers to tamper with packaging of the products and customers cannot open or consume any marijuana in stores at all.

“Our problem is that we get people who want to smoke it while they’re on vacation in Washington, but we’ve got producers that only want to sell us their product by the eighth because they want to offload their product,” Hallock said. “So we have to figure out a better system. A lot of hotels also don’t even let you smoke inside, so it’s kind of challenging with the tourism aspect.”

There were also concerns voiced from audience members over the potential for driving under the influence charges increasing and how they might be handled in court. Magerl explained in a “perfect situation” a driver who is pulled over and exhibits signs of being intoxicated would first be subjected to a breathalizer test to determine if they’ve been drinking. If that tests comes back in the negative, but an officer suspects the driver has been smoking marijuana either by smelling it or conducting field sobriety tests, a blood test can be ordered to determine if the driver has Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in his or her system.

Some questioned the process, saying that THC can turn up in a blood or urine sample days after someone has smoked.

“I think you’ll have lots of people going to court over it because it does stay in your body for 30 days, so if you’ve smoked a lot it’s going to stay even longer, so if someone just smokes a little bit, a puff or two, it may be gone in a week, but when it comes to whether you were under the influence or not at the time you’re going to have to go to court to prove it,” Lemberger said.

At one point, an audience member questioned Stevens directly about the City of North Bonneville’s decision to create a Public Development Authority (PDA) to try to obtain a license to open a marijuana retail shop. Stevens said while the city will not make any money from the shop directly, the creation of the PDA allows for some of the money made through the yet-to-be-established pot shop to be plugged back into the community.

“The way the PDA can help offset some of the city’s finances would be to contribute to law enforcement contracts. We currently contract with the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement. Our budget is extremely thin and tight, so if the PDA were successful in acquiring their license and operating a business and say to the city ‘we recognize there is an added impact on the law enforcement needs of our community because of the locating of our store and we want to try to offset that’ then we could figure it out,” Stevens said.

While the discussion zeroed in on legal weed in the Gorge on the Washington side of the Columbia River, the panel also made note of Measure 91, which will be on the Oregon ballot in the upcoming election and would legalize recreational marijuana there as well.

Hallock said it’s not only important for Washington state to set a good example for other states that wish to legalize marijuana based on principle, but to also ensure that the process of growing, processing, and selling marijuana on the legal market evens out so product is affordable for tourists and locals alike.

“There’s a big buzz right now and I think that buzz is already fading. We really need to try to focus on the local market because you can’t run a business unless you have quality product at prices the locals can afford. We have a massive crisis in this industry right now where the prices are out of control and it is not due to (the LCB) being too busy to license people or a bottle neck at the LCB, it’s due to people thinking that there’s a bunch of tourists that we can charge a bunch of money for this stuff and that it’s a luxury. It’s a very bad attitude to have,” Hallock said.