Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in early February that reversing course on marijuana enforcement would put the Trump administration “on the wrong side of history.”
So Inslee was not pleased to hear Trump administration press secretary Sean Spicer say on Feb. 23 the Department of Justice may step up enforcement in eight states that have voted to legalize recreational marijuana, which is still illegal on the federal level.
In Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, alarm bells sounded.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Thursday he was “deeply disappointed” by Spicer’s comments and promised to “defend the will of Washington voters.”
“My office will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the federal government does not undermine Washington’s successful, unified system for regulating recreational and medical marijuana,” Ferguson said in a statement,
Requests for comment from Auburn’s two recreational marijuana dispensaries, the Stash Box at 3108 A St. SE. and the Evergreen Market at 402 16th St. were not answered.
But the issue will certainly be talked over at future meetings of the Auburn City Council.
“We have always known that there were some concerns, and that the former administration was averting its eyes to the issue, because it is still illegal, federally, even though many states now have legalized cannabis,” said Mayor Nancy Backus. “We have always been aware that there could be an issue, which is why at the very beginning we were silent on the issue. Right now there is a moratorium in place in the City of Auburn and it went to the planning commission for the first time (last week) to review what Auburn’s formal policies are going to be, moving forward.
Could Auburn rethink its position?
“That will be part of the discussion,” Backus said. “Recent comments are pretty new for us to be taking in. But we’ll definitely be talking about it. There are two marijuana businesses here and one waiting approval for relocation. There haven’t been any issues with the two that are here now. We have to be mindful of the City’s positions: we can be sympathetic, and I’m not saying we are going to do anything because that’s not my authority – but we are not going to put ourselves in harm’s way.”
The mayor’s reference was to Green Solutions Place, which closed last year at its controversial site next to the entrance to the Forest Ridge subdivision at 2801 Auburn Way S., and as part of a settlement with the city of Auburn, will move to an as yet unknown industrial area in the city of Auburn.
