Where is someone to go if they want to consume cannabis?
The question may sound silly, cannabis is legal after all, but Washington law kind of gets in the way.
The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, or LCB, led its most recent publication with a story on cannabis lounges, which are places where the consumption of cannabis is legal. Essentially, they're bars for cannabis.
But they're not legal in Washington.
So why was the state's regulatory body on cannabis talking about them? Good question.
Washington is not in the process of or even looking to legalize cannabis lounges.
This is despite the fact, as pointed out by author Tyler Watson on LCB's official website, that more than a dozen other states have done so.
"Since modern legalization of cannabis at the state level, there are currently 13 adult-use cannabis states that have authorized certain types of cannabis consumption sites," Watson writes.
Not to belabor the point, but to drive it home, Washington is not one of those 13 states.
We were the first state to legalize cannabis, but we have now fallen behind over a dozen states.
It's crazy to say this, because it's been barely more than a decade since legalization, but cannabis used to be an economic driver. It used to be.
Washington was once an island in an ocean of prohibition. But now? Half of the country has legalized cannabis. Canada to our north has done so as well. Nobody is coming here to get stoned. Cannabis tourism is dead.
Visitspokane.com, the city's virtual gateway, used to have a page on cannabis tourism. It explained all of the ins and outs of cannabis consumption. You could rightly assume that page existed because there was demand for it.
That page no longer exists.
I'm not sure if anyone actually came to Spokane to get stoned, but once upon a time doing so seemed to make sense. It doesn't anymore.
Half of the country allows cannabis use, and a baker's dozen of those states allow what are essentially weed bars.
In Washington, by the letter of the law, you basically need to be in your own home. And you better not be by a window — consuming cannabis in the public view is illegal, just so you know.
The state has recognized this. I mean, they wrote about it. The question is, will they do anything? As of now, there are more words on the LCB's website than there is action.
