This week marks 10 years since Washingtonians legalized recreational cannabis through a ballot initiative, creating what has become an industry with $1.5 billion in retail sales a year. Take a look back at some of the biggest days for cannabis from the past decade.
NOV. 6, 2012
On Election Day in 2012, Washington voters approved Initiative 502 with 55.7 percent of the vote. That number was slightly lower — 52.15 percent — in Spokane County. And it wasn't like just a few people voted. Statewide turnout was an impressive 81 percent. The initiative contained a number of provisions legalizing recreational cannabis in the state and establishing a market for legal sales. At the same time, voters in Colorado approved a similar initiative with 55.3 percent of the vote, making the two states the first in the nation to legalize.
DEC. 6, 2012
The first provisions of I-502 went into effect exactly one month after Election Day. At the stroke of midnight on that early December Thursday, possession of up to 1 ounce of cannabis became legal. Photos of people gathering for a late-night smoke session beneath Seattle's Space Needle flooded the internet.
AUG. 29, 2013
Clarity about the federal government's stance on cannabis legalization arrived when James Cole, the deputy attorney general under President Obama, issued what has become known as the Cole Memorandum. It stated that the Justice Department would not enforce the federal prohibition of cannabis in states that had moved to legalize the drug within a strong regulatory framework. Essentially, as long as Washington's cannabis industry followed the rules established by I-502, the federal government would let it operate.
JULY 8, 2014
More than a year and a half after voters approved I-502, the state's legal market opened for the first time. The state's first batch of dispensaries began selling cannabis in the early morning hours of July 7. That set in motion a mad scramble to stock shelves, while also drawing long lines of patrons looking to be among the first to buy cannabis legally. About 2 pm, Spokane Green Leaf opened its doors as the city's first legal dispensary. Mike Boyer, who had spent 19 hours waiting in line, made the first legal purchase.
MARCH 23, 2020
As COVID surged and the state began implementing mitigation measures to stop its spread, businesses around Washington were forced to shut their doors. Cannabis businesses, however, were allowed to stay open. In the span of just eight years, cannabis went from being classified as an illegal product in Washington to being deemed an essential one during a global health crisis. ♦
