Washington State Officials Met With Feds to Talk Cannabis Policy

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After United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a letter to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to criticize the efficacy of the state’s cannabis policy, Inslee and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson asked Sessions to meet with them.

While Sessions never responded to that request, officials with the offices of Inslee, Ferguson, the Washington State Liquor & Cannabis Board and the Department of Financial Institutions went to Washington, D.C., to meet with Department of Justice officials on Sept. 29, 2017, to discuss state and federal cannabis policy.

“Our voters asked us to create a safe, tightly-regulated legal recreational marijuana system, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Inslee and Ferguson wrote in a statement. “We appreciate that our staff were given an opportunity to share our progress and the results of our efforts with USDOJ, and reiterate that we share the goal of keeping our children safe, tightly regulating this market and improving public safety.”

According to the statement from Inslee and Ferguson, the Washington state officials were able to discuss the ways in which the state is curbing the black market and youth access. While state officials also asked for DOJ officials to reaffirm non-enforcement in state-legal markets, it is unclear if the DOJ will fulfill this request.

Inslee and Ferguson would still like to meet with Sessions and closed their statement with a nod to the future.

“We look forward to continued discussions about a mutually agreeable path forward.”

Caroline Cahill is the Managing Editor of MJINews. She earned her BA in Communications from College of Charleston and her MFA in Creative Writing from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has previously worked in higher education, development and radio. You can follow her on Twitter @CtheresaC.

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