Another year, another legislative push to legalize homegrown cannabis in Washington

click to enlarge Another year, another legislative push to legalize homegrown cannabis in Washington
Lawmakers will consider legalizing personal cannabis plants.

A group of legislators in Olympia are hoping to dramatically expand legalized cannabis in Washington by introducing a DIY alternative to the state's highly regulated recreational market.

House Bill 1449, introduced last week, is the latest in a long line of attempts to legalize homegrown cannabis, dating as far back as 2015 — the year after the state's legal marketplace opened — to as recently as last year.

Last year's effort, introduced by state Rep. Shelley Kloba, D-Kirkland, failed to make it out of committee.

This year's, also introduced by Kloba, looks slightly more promising, as it has 15 co-sponsors, three more than last year.

Of those 15, the only sponsors from east of the Cascades are Democratic Reps. Natasha Hill and Timm Ormsby of the 3rd District, which covers much of the city of Spokane. Ormsby also co-sponsored last year's attempt, while Hill was not yet in the state Legislature at the time.

Every co-sponsor of HB 1449 is a Democrat. The party controls the state House by a 59 to 39 majority.

If passed, HB 1449 would legalize the possession of up to six plants for adults 21 and older, or up to 15 plants per household, with provisions limiting where they could be grown that largely follow existing rules on where cannabis can be consumed.

Growing cannabis within public view, or in a manner that allows it to be smelled from another residence, would be classified as a civil infraction.

Cannabis produced in-home, in accordance with the proposed rules, would not count against the state's current possession limit of 1 ounce per adult.

Currently, only licensed medical patients can grow their own cannabis in Washington.

Despite being the first state to legalize recreational cannabis more than a decade ago, Washington has fallen well behind the cutting-edge when it comes to cannabis policy. Of the 24 states where recreational cannabis is legal, 21 have also legalized homegrown cannabis in some form.

Washington's neighbor to the south, Oregon, is arguably the state most culturally, economically and demographically similar to the Evergreen State among those with legal cannabis. Later this year, Oregonians will celebrate 10 years of legalized home-grow.

HB 1449's first public hearing in committee was scheduled for Jan. 28. Legislators have until the end of February to advance the bill to the floor of the House, otherwise HB 1449 would suffer the same fate as last year's home-grow proposal and die in committee. ♦

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Will Maupin

Will Maupin is a regular contributor to the Inlander, mainly covering sports, culture and cannabis. He’s been writing about sports since 2013 and cannabis since 2019. Will enjoys covering local college basketball, and regularly contributes to the Inlander's Gonzaga Basketball blog, Kennel Corner. He also writes...