SEATTLE — A prominent medical marijuana provider thinks the state should allow pot sellers to grow their own supply.
John Davis of the Northwest Patient Resource Center can grow marijuana now for medical patients, but he'll have to look elsewhere for his recreational supply when he expands under Initiative 502 in partnership with the recently announced company Diego Pellicer. Initiative 502 requires recreational marijuana producers and sellers to be separate.
Davis is concerned about finding enough marijuana to meet the demand and says the way the law is structured now, "I can't be in control of my own destiny."
"The supply for these shops that are supposed to be selling recreational cannabis, I don't see the facilities being built," Davis said.
The campaign director for Initiative 502, Alison Holcomb, says there's a good reason the initiative kept producers and sellers apart.
"The concern is that you might have market domination by a few large suppliers," Holcomb said.
Any change to a voter-approved initiative faces a huge hurdle. Two years after passage, a majority of the legislature could approve a change. Any changes earlier than that would require a two-thirds vote.
"Two-thirds of the legislature can't agree on lunch," Davis said.