Call for Help from WA Medical Cannabis Access Points

Estimating the medical cannabis market for the WSLCB:

Left to right: CASP Board member Don E. Wirtschafter, esq; Don Skakie; Reverend Jeff Church; NORML President Kevin Oliver; Medical Cannabis Producer Shawn DeNae; and Dr. Corva. Panel from 2014 Seattle Hempfest Hemposium.

Photo by Steve Hyde

by Dr. Dominic Corva, Executive Director

CASP requests assistance from all Washington State Medical Cannabis Access Points! We have been contracted by BOTEC to help develop and administer an anonymous, 10-question survey to this part of the medical cannabis industry. The surveys will be aggregated and run through a BOTEC-developed econometric model to estimate the size of Washington’s medical marijuana retail market. The results will be presented to the Washington State Liquor Control Board, who will then use the results to make big decisions about the new 502 retail window and the issuance of medical “endorsements.”

In addition to being anonymous, a further step has been taken to insulate the information providers from identification. We have received a letter from the WSLCB stating that they will not have access to the raw data. It is available here: BOTEC – Letter on behalf of LCB – FINAL.

In the interest of transparency, I am fully aware that our information network is being used in exchange for money. I have two observations about that: our network tends toward the collaborative side, and it’s tough to ask people for money just because. The value of our community’s interest in knowledge-based policy makes this a public service, not just a policymaker service.

This contract breaks new ground for CASP, and we are humbled to be invited to steward the production of useful knowledge. The better informed policy is, the better the policy is. We make no grand claims about this knowledge: it will have to be refined and undoubtedly will be used for many purposes.  We only claim that it will be better for your participation.

If you are an access point owner in Washington State, please contact Dr. Corva at dominic@caspcenter.org to receive the survey and answer any questions.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration. We hope to hear from you soon! We have a small window of time to do this, as the LCB will need processed results in just a few weeks.