Pharmacies may have bill to protect them from ‘found pot'

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Retail stores often collect lost and found items that shoppers leave in the store, but one lost item could get the stores in legal trouble -- marijuana.

As a result, lawmakers are considering a bill that would protect stores in such situations.

The strangely specific bill lays out the steps that stores, such as Bartell Drugs, should take to get rid of marijuana that someone inadvertently left inside the store.

Stores that have the biggest stake in such a situation are pharmacies, because though it’s legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana in Washington, it’s still against federal law.

And if an illicit drug is found inside a retail store with a pharmacy, the store's pharmacy license could be jeopardized.

As a result, some lawmakers introduced the bill to protect the stores.   It would require that the store call police to help dispose of the marijuana properly.

The bill is one of dozens of new bills that lawmakers are considering in the one-year period before the state-licensed sale of marijuana takes effect

KIRO