Local Implementation Update and Trend Report – Post-prohibition Cannabis Education for a Drug War Free World

LOCAL IMPLEMENTATION OF I-502 UPDATE with LEGISLATIVE TRENDS

March 26^th 2014

Background: Washington voters approved Initiative 502 in November 2012 setting up a legal system to tax and regulate marijuana for recreational use. Cities and counties were given authority to pass additional zoning regulations. Cities have final authority granting licensing for marijuana businesses, following state approval.

Project: The Center collected data on the 75 most populous cities in Washington to examine how local governments have handled I-502 implementation legislatively. Over the last several months the Center has tracked the shifting implementation strategies of those cities.

Definitions:

ZONED: City council passed legislation zoning areas where marijuana businesses could apply or updated the Municipal Code recognizing recreational marijuana.

MORATORIUM: City council passed legislation putting a hold on accepting marijuana licenses. These ranged from 6-12 months.

BANNED: City passes legislation banning marijuana businesses until the drug is approved federally or officials have threatened to ban.

NO ACTION: Cities took no legislative action, will treat marijuana businesses like any other business or simply expands medical marijuana laws to recreational.

	# of cities	%*	Population Impacted **
ZONED	33	44%	2,293,070
MORATORIUM	29	39%	1,094,924
BANNED	5	7%	223,416
NO ACTION	8	11%	244,469

Total	75		3,855,879

From January 1, 2014 to March 25, 2014 seventeen (17) cities have altered their policies related to I-502. The legislative movements are:

Moratorium to Zone	10
Moratorium to Ban	2
No Action to Zone	2
No Action to Moratorium	2
Zone to Moratorium	1

Key Findings:

More cities that originally passed moratoria have opted to zone rather than ban.
Only 2 additional bans have been implemented after the Attorney General’s opinion affirming local bans.
Moratoria have dropped in 11 cities.

	City	County	Est. Population	Status
1	Seattle	King	634,535	ZONED
2	Spokane	Spokane	209,525	ZONED
3	Tacoma	Pierce	202,010	ZONED (Interim)
4	Vancouver	Clark	165,489	ZONED
5	Bellevue	King	126,439	ZONED
6	Kent	King	122,999	MORATORIUM
7	Everett	Snohomish	104,655	ZONED (interim)
8	Renton	King	95,448	MORATORIUM
9	Yakima	Yakima	93,101	BANNED
10	Federal Way	King	91,933	MORATORIUM
11	Spokane Valley	Spokane	90,641	ZONED (Interim)
12	Bellingham	Whatcom	82,234	ZONED
13	Kennewick	Benton	75,971	MORATORIUM
14	Auburn	King/Pierce	73,505	MORATORIUM
15	Pasco	Franklin	65,398	MORATORIUM
16	Marysville	Snohomish	62,402	MORATORIUM
17	Lakewood	Pierce	58,852	BANNED
18	Redmond	King	56,561	MORATORIUM
19	Shoreline	King	54,352	NO ACTION
20	Richland	Benton	51,440	MORATORIUM
21	Kirkland	King	50,697	ZONED (interim)
22	Burien	King	49,410	ZONED
23	Sammamish	King	49,069	MORATORIUM
24	Olympia	Thurston	47,698	ZONED (Interim)
25	Lacey	Thurston	43,860	NO ACTION
26	Edmonds	Snohomish	40,400	MORATORIUM
27	Bremerton	Kitsap	39,251	NO ACTION
28	Puyallup	Pierce	38,147	MORATORIUM
29	Longview	Cowlitz	36,458	ZONED
30	Lynnwood	Snohomish	36,275	ZONED (Interim)
31	Bothell	King/Sno	34,651	NO ACTION
32	Issaquah	King	32,633	MORATORIUM
33	Wenatchee	Chelan	32,562	BANNED
34	Mount Vernon	Skagit	32,287	ZONED
35	Walla Walla	Walla Walla	31,864	ZONED (Interim)
36	University Place	Pierce	31,562	MORATORIUM
37	Pullman	Whitman	31,359	ZONED
38	Des Moines	King	30,449	ZONED
39	Lake Stevens	Snohomish	29,104	ZONED
40	SeaTac	King	27,667	BANNED
41	Maple Valley	King	24,171	ZONED
42	Mercer Island	King	23,661	NO ACTION
43	Bainbridge Island	Kitsap	23,263	MORATORIUM
44	Oak Harbor	Island	22,260	ZONED
45	Kenmore	King	21,280	MORATORIUM
46	Moses Lake	Grant	21,182	ZONED
47	Mukilteo	Snohomish	20,605	ZONED
48	Camas	Clark	20,490	MORATORIUM
49	Mountlake Terrace	Snohomish	20,198	ZONED
50	Tukwila	King	19,611	ZONED
51	Port Angeles	Clallam	19,056	NO ACTION
52	Mill Creek	Snohomish	18,671	MORATORIUM
53	Ellensburg	Kittitas	18,348	ZONED
54	Arlington	Snohomish	18,317	ZONED
55	Covington	King	18,298	ZONED (Interim)
56	Tumwater	Thurston	18,102	ZONED
57	Battle Ground	Clark	18,044	NO ACTION
58	Bonney Lake	Pierce	17,964	MORATORIUM
59	Monroe	Snohomish	17,503	ZONED (Interim)
60	Aberdeen	Grays Harbor	16,529	ZONED (Interim)
61	Centralia	Lewis	16,505	MORATORIUM
62	Sunnyside	Yakima	16,054	MORATORIUM
63	Anacortes	Skagit	15,928	MORATORIUM
64	Washougal	Clark	14,584	MORATORIUM
65	East Wenatchee	Douglas	13,439	MORATORIUM
66	Lake Forest Park	King	12,972	MORATORIUM
67	West Richland	Benton	12,663	MORATORIUM
68	Lynden	Whatcom	12,605	MORATORIUM
69	Ferndale	Whatcom	11,998	MORATORIUM
70	Kelso	Cowlitz	11,832	ZONED
71	Port Orchard	Kitsap	11,680	ZONED (Interim)
72	Snoqualmie	King	11,594	NO ACTION
73	Enumclaw	King/Pierce	11,327	MORATORIUM
74	Woodinville	King	11,234	BANNED
75	Cheney	Spokane	11,018	ZONED (interim)

For access to our interactive map and links to legislative documents please visit:

http://cannabisandsocialpolicy.org/projects/washington-local-i-502-implementation/

Please email Dr. Dominic Corva, Executive Director, with any questions.

corvad@caspcenter.org

* Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.

**Population data is from the estimated 2012 population from the US Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2011/files/SUB-EST2011_ALL.csv

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