"Business owners don’t often proclaim the value of a highly regulated marketplace, but Washington state’s legal cannabis industry is thriving because our state’s leaders are committed to upholding the direction of voters in creating a safe marketplace that keeps pot out of the hands of minors. That isn’t to say that our current system is perfect — but each year we continue to refine laws and regulations to reflect the realities of a nascent industry.

It is fitting that the Washington CannaBusiness Association (WACA) — the regulated industry’s professional association of cannabis producers, processors and retailers — is helping lead our state’s delegation to Washington, D.C. this month, five years after the passage of Initiative 502. When voters approved a legal cannabis marketplace in 2012, no other state had a legal market for cannabis. Today, eight states have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use, including the entire West Coast. Patients and general consumers spent $6.7 billion on legal cannabis in 2016, according to an Arcview Market Research report."

Read the entire guest column by WACA member Andy Brassington.