About a year ago, I visited Seattle to see how pot legalization was going. Not well, as it turned out.
A few years earlier, Washington State became one of the first U.S. jurisdictions to vote in favour of legalizing and regulating the sale of marijuana for recreational use. In 2014, the system designed to manage the commercialization process was operational – and it didn’t take long for some early grumbling to become a nascent revolt.
Growers complained there were too many of them to make any money. Store owners protested that the government taxes on pot were so onerous it left them little financial gain. Meantime, medical marijuana remained so cheap and easy to get few saw any impetus to go to the more expensive government-regulated outlets. Police and others echoed this sentiment, saying the black market was alive and well thanks to the overpriced weed being sold in state-sanctioned outlets.
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