Medical Marijuana Owners Gaze into a Pro-Pot Future

Medical marijuana dispensary owners opined about life after legalization in a recent article in the West Seattle Herald.

 Despite the move toward wholesale legalization with Initiative 502, John Davis, owner of the Northwest Patient Resource Center, speculated that marijuana shops and medical marijuana dispensaries will remain separate businesses because medical use and recreational use are not compatible.

 The owner of Herban Legends, Chris Cody, also hoped the two businesses would be regulated separately, because he feels patients should not have to pay the proposed 25 percent tax that will be levied on non-medical pot.

 There's also confusion as to how marijuana would work as a Schedule 2 drug (which the DEA deems as having medical applications) instead of a Schedule 1 (which the DEA feels has no medicinal value). Both agree distributing through pharmacies will be the sticky point, with Davis pointing out that existing pharmacies do not have knowledge of different strains and that dispensaries may have to become licensed pharmacies. Cody added that there is no infrastructure in place for national pharmacy chains to properly dispense medical pot.