YAKIMA, WA – Yakima County officials voted Tuesday to place a nonbinding measure on the November ballot, asking residents whether they want to repeal a local ban on cannabis dispensaries.
Washington state legalized recreational marijuana in 2012 after voters approved Initiative 502, but the majority of Yakima County opposed the measure. Around two years later, the Board of Yakima County Commissioners passed its own ban on the production, processing and sale of recreational cannabis.
The city of Yakima also imposed a ban in 2014, but repealed it two years later. The county’s ban only applies to unincorporated areas, so around a dozen retailers operate within Union Gap and Yakima city limits. Roughly 58% of voters upheld the county’s ban in 2017, but now the government needs money.
“I look at this as a matter of us as commissioners doing our due diligence,” Commissioner Kyle Curtis said on Tuesday. “Ensuring that our taxpayers know that there are dollars that are being left on the table, that hopefully, if the advisory vote comes back with a recommendation to remove the ban, that we can access those dollars and put it towards more law enforcement and also addressing addiction.”
According to a news release, the county’s ban prevents it from participating in the state’s per capita share of the cannabis excise tax, which could generate an estimated $400,000 to $500,000 annually.
However, that’s only a drop in the bucket compared to the county’s anticipated budget deficit heading into next year, which the commissioners estimated was roughly $13 million to $15 million on Tuesday.
Curtis said the ban doesn’t prevent access to marijuana, it just ties up revenue. More than 60 related businesses have applied and been denied permission to operate within the unincorporated areas of the county since the board imposed it; however, not all of his peers are as eager to repeal the ban.
The board moved 2-1 to place the advisory vote on the ballot, with Commissioner LaDon Linde voting in opposition. Commissioner Amanda McKinney told The Center Square that she’s largely against the use of cannabis outside of a medically-monitored prescription or the agricultural production of hemp.
The state doesn’t differentiate medical and recreational cannabis, so the ban prevents the growth of hemp and the sale of medical marijuana. McKinney said that she voted to leave it up to residents, but still sees addiction as a pressing issue that cannabis perpetuates.
“Yakima County has voted against this in the past twice, and I don’t see it changing,” Linde said during the board’s meeting. “I have really legitimate concerns as I look at some of the statistics we have that in our country, we’ve got 1.3 million youth under the age of 18 that have cannabis use disorder.”
While relevant data varies by source, a Columbia University study recently found that over 600,000 teens, about 1 in 40, technically have cannabis use disorder, which hinges on them meeting at least two of 11 criteria.
Linde said state law prohibits the sale to minors already, and worries that if the board repeals the ban, it will increase access to minors. Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for legalization nationwide, disagrees, pointing to several studies that suggest adolescent use has decreased significantly.
Still, Columbia University found that teens who do use recreational marijuana are “two to four times as likely to develop psychiatric disorders, such as depression and suicidality, than teens who don’t.”
“This is no longer the 1960s,” McKinney said. “There are enhancements that have been made to the product, and unfortunately, it is something that has been the precursor to a lot of the blight and devastation that we see on our streets.
Yakima County voters will have a chance to weigh in on repealing the ban in November. However, due to it being a nonbinding advisory vote, the final decision remains with the commissioners.
