THE TURBULENT HISTORY OF CANNABIS REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT IN WASHINGTON STATE.

Washington State has one of the nation's most mature licensed cannabis industries, but nearly a decade after its voters declared the State would stop treating adult cannabis use as a crime, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) has failed to embrace the voters' lofty ambitions. Legislators, licensees, and even LCB staff have derided the LCB's preference for enforcement before education and its reliance on traditional policing systems developed during the War on Drugs to regulate the cannabis industry. The LCB's frequently hostile enforcement culture--including arguing to courts that cannabis licensees have no constitutional rights--has repeatedly converted de minimis regulatory violations into business-ending events. The LCB's conduct prompted the legislature to pass a sweeping reform bill, and a subsequently issued independent audit requested by the LCB recognized the need for and recommended additional widespread reform, some of which the LCB implemented. Nevertheless, the LCB has not yet shown it has evolved into an agency that prioritizes achieving regulatory compliance over punishing licensees. This Article, the first of its kind to chronicle the regulatory and legislative evolution of Washington's cannabis industry, details the troubling history of the LCB's abuses of power and policy blunders in the early years of regulating Washington's cannabis industry. Washington presents a cautionary tale for other jurisdictions to heed when crafting or amending the regulatory scheme for their adult use cannabis industries. Stakeholders that are looking for a responsible and fair approach to regulating cannabis should consider the history, limitations, concerns, and resulting reforms borne from the Washington system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]