BILLS, BILLS, BILLS

With the new year comes a new legislative session and with it a plethora of bills hoping to make a difference. Washington state is seeing 7 new bills relating to the growing cannabis industry and how it will continue. First is a bill lowering the base marijuana tax from 37% down to 25% in hopes that the loss of taxes will be made up in more people abandoning black market sales. A separate bill would allow the delivery of marijuana in the state, though dispensaries are worried about loss of sales. Another bill, if passed, would reenact hemp as a cash crop in the state, and allow the Department of Agriculture to further regulate it's industry. One of the many more bills would make it easier to research marijuana by removing a difficult roadblock in the application process.

SB 6177: Perhaps the most exciting proposal of the bunch, this bill would simplify the research application process regarding cannabis by removing the Life Sciences Discovery Fund from the current application process and replacing it with a "scientific reviewer," which includes educational or research institutions, peer review groups, or science or research-based organizations, as designated by the board, opening the door to more cannabis-related studies.