Advisory Vote No. 11
Election Results
| Option | Votes | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Maintained | 507,545 | 57.91% |
| Repealed | 368,934 | 42.09% |
* Race percentages are calculated with data from the Secretary of State's Office, which omits write-in votes from its calculations when there are too few to affect the outcome. The Spokane County Auditor's Office may have slightly different percentages than are reflected here because its figures include any write-in votes.
About the Measure
This year, the Legislature rearranged the marijuana taxes that were imposed by Initiative 502 through a major rewrite of cannabis laws that puts medical marijuana under stricter state control. That made it subject to the same excise taxes as recreational marijuana. The amount it will raise over 10 years can’t be estimated, and is listed as “indeterminate”, by the Office of Financial Management. It passed the Senate 41-8 and the House 60-36.
The change to state law triggers a provision that requires voters be asked whether they think those taxes should be repealed or kept. The ballot measures are required by Initiative 960, which passed in 2007. In the past nine such advisory measures, voters have backed some and opposed others. The results are non-binding, and the Legislature has yet to change – or even reconsider – a tax based on the results of an advisory measure.
Because the results have no consequences, there are no active campaigns either for or against any of the measures.
Here are the advisory questions on this year’s ballot:
Complete Coverage
Pot shop bans would need public vote under proposed legislation
Cities and counties couldn’t ban licensed marijuana stores without a public vote under a proposal approved Monday by a House committee.
Pot shop bans would have to go on ballot
OLYMPIA – Cities and counties couldn’t ban licensed marijuana stores without a public vote under a proposal approved Monday by a House committee.
State could get 222 more pot stores
OLYMPIA — Washington will likely increase the number of retail marijuana stores to 556, to handle the demand for medical marijuana licenses.
State could have 222 more new pot stores
OLYMPIA — Washington will likely increase the number of retail marijuana stores to 556, to handle the demand for medical marijuana licenses.
Market for marijuana concentrates grows
Inhaling water vapor laced with concentrated THC, the active chemical compound in marijuana, is “dabbing,” a method employed by a growing number of marijuana users as a stronger, faster way to get high.
Spokane County growers anticipate world’s largest marijuana harvest
Spokane County marijuana farmers are gearing up for what they anticipate will be the largest harvest of the crop anywhere in the world. But banking and safety concerns continue to nag the nascent legal market, and regulatory concerns linger as the state prepares to merge the medicinal and recreational markets.
‘Kettle Falls Five’ members get prison time in federal marijuana case
All defendants in the Kettle Falls Five marijuana case will receive prison time, a federal judge ruled Friday. Three members of the family, who say they were growing medicinal marijuana, received prison sentences totaling 57 months.
‘Kettle Falls Five’ members get prison time in federal marijuana case
All defendants in the Kettle Falls Five marijuana case will receive prison time, a federal judge ruled Friday. Three members of the family, who say they were growing medicinal marijuana, received prison sentences totaling 57 months.
Mapping the pot biz: Sales by growers, processors and stores
Want a breakdown of the Washington pot sales described in this morning’s story. We’ve got detailed maps inside.
Interactive pot business map for Spokane
To go with this morning’s marijuana sales story, we have a map of all businesses in Spokane County.
Washington marijuana sales amount to $357 million in 15 months
One-third of a billion dollars. Sales of all marijuana products – from the plants grown in the fields, to the individual portions to smoke or eat processed in factories large and small, to their purchase by Washington residents and visitors – topped that figure in the first 15 months recreational marijuana has been available in the state.
Enforcement savings byproduct of legal pot in Washington
Boy did a lot of people suddenly start smoking marijuana. Washingtonians and visitors have spent almost a quarter-billion dollars on retail weed since legalization. It’s a lot of money. Enough to cover a week’s worth of Forest Service firefighting costs this August. Enough to pay Marshawn Lynch for almost 21 years of Beast Mode at his current compensation.
About those marijuana figures reported by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy
Per capita sales make a nice headline or tweet, but there’s more going on in that study that’s hit the Web in a big way this week.
Spokane marijuana retailer Greenlight robbed at gunpoint
Spokane County’s leading marijuana retailer was robbed Monday night in what Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich called a “takeover-style” crime. “We’re taking this very seriously,” Knezovich said Wednesday.
Spokane County’s top pot shop robbed in ‘takeover-style’ crime
Spokane County’s leading store in marijuana sales was robbed Monday night in what Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich called a “takeover-style” crime. “We’re taking this very seriously,” Knezovich said Wednesday.
July pot sales end hot streak
Marijuana sales in Spokane County dipped in July, the first drop in month-to-month retail receipts since the drug became legal. The county’s 15 shops sold $3.8 million worth of marijuana products last month, according to reports on file with the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board. That total was less than June’s tally of $4.1 million in retail sales and ended a yearlong stretch during which the industry grew unabated.
‘Kettle Falls Five’ member gets 16-month sentence
Jason Lee Zucker was given a 16-month sentence Friday for his role in the so-called “Kettle Falls Five” marijuana grow in rural Stevens County. He remains out of custody pending an appeal of the case.
WSLCB: New name, new laws, same acronym
OLYMPIA — The state Liquor Control Board officially becomes the Liquor and Cannabis Board today.
Medical marijuana law won’t be on ballot
OLYMPIA — An effort to give voters a chance to reject changes to the state’s medical marijuana laws has failed. Supporters of a referendum to put it on the November ballot have told state officials they won’t be turning in signatures.
Legal pot survives year of upheaval
It’s been a little more than a year since Mike Boyer held the marijuana he purchased legally, the first person in Spokane County to do so, above his head and shouted, “Go Washington!” to a crowd of cheering onlookers. Since then, Boyer has lost two jobs, a home and countless other employment opportunities while the legal pot industry continues to boom. He also was arrested in March after allegations of domestic violence in an incident Boyer called “a misunderstanding.”