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To considerable fanfare – and the occasional stumble – the legal recreational marijuana industry opened for business in Washington state last week. So far, the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) has issued the state’s first 24 marijuana retailer licenses, representing the first of 334 licenses allotted by the WSLCB for retail sales who have successfully completed the Initiative 502 licensing process. Now that sales of legal marijuana and marijuana-infused products have commenced in the state, many are asking about the quality and safety of these products.

Like other food and beverage items we ingest, marijuana products can contain mites, molds, and even foodborne pathogens such as E. coli. In order to stave off potential health and safety risks, WSLCB mandated that all marijuana products undergo rigorous quality assurance testing by certified labs. In fact, as Dan Flynn at Food Safety News reports, “Washington state is off to a safer start than Colorado.” According to Flynn:…

Continue Reading Compliance Checklist for Mandatory Quality Assurance Testing of Marijuana Products

Hundreds of eager customers lined up outside of Washington’s newly licensed marijuana retailers on Tuesday to make history by participating in the first legal sales of recreational marijuana in the state. Earlier this week, the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) issued the state’s first 24 marijuana retailer licenses. These businesses represent the first of…

UPDATE: Although the RPC proposal mentioned below is still under consideration by the Washington State Supreme Court, the KCBA Board of Trustees has adopted an ethics advisory opinion to assist the bar in the interim as attorneys consider practice issues under the existing RPCs. The full text of the KCBA Ethics Advisory Opinion on I-502 & Rules of Professional Conduct can be found here.

An interesting question that has arisen in the wake of the passage of Initiative 502 (I-502) — Washington’s marijuana legalization measure — is whether attorneys run the risk of disciplinary action under the state’s Rules of Professional Conduct (RPCs) for advising clients on their marijuana business or for personally participating in the recreational use of marijuana.

Under Initiative 502, both activities are technically legal under state law, however, they remain illegal under federal law, creating a catch-22 situation. When trying to solve this dilemma, the RPCs unfortunately offer no guidance, and there are no ethics advisory opinions that address the issue.

Due to this lack of guidance, Washington lawyers have been left to wonder what the potential consequences might be. Indeed, earlier this month, King County Bar Association (KCBA) President Anne Daly asked in an article on the subject, “where does this leave…the more than 14,000 lawyers in King County who could easily find themselves in [this] predicament?”…

Continue Reading Ethical Challenges for Lawyers in the Face of State Marijuana Legalization

Stoel Rives attorneys Susan Johnson and Jim Shore will be part of the faculty for a one-day Law Seminars International conference on June 11 regarding Washington’s Initiative 502 that legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Susan will serve as co-chair of the conference, while Jim will present on I502 implications for employer policies and procedures.…

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The Stoel Rives Alcohol Beverage Blog provides wineries, breweries, distilleries, cideries, distributors and importers with articles and information across a broad spectrum of state and federal alcohol beverage law. The authors work on alcohol beverage related projects from our bases in California, Oregon and Washington, throughout the Western United States and beyond.