County should grab pot taxes to fight black market

The Pierce County Council might finally be coming to grips with the reality of legal marijuana. Not to mention the reality of illegal marijuana.

Although state voters approved a system of tightly regulated pot sales in 2012, Pierce County and various other jurisdictions, including Puyallup, Federal Way and Lakewood, have been loath to let legal retailers open.

Under state law, governments have the power to bar licensed pot shops from operating within their borders. The problem is, the local officials who’ve banned legal sales have seemed oblivious to the illegal sales going on beneath their noses.

In unincorporated Pierce County, for example, more than 80 “medical” dispensaries – basically drug traffickers flying green crosses – are operating with apparent impunity. Meanwhile, the Republican majority on the County Council has balked at the possibility of allowing state-approved shops, shops that would be licensed, monitored and inspected by the Liquor and Cannabis Board.

A crucial difference between the legal and illegal operations: The licensed stores can be busted and put out of business if they sell to drug seekers under 21. There’s no supervision of the unlicensed stores, and some have no problem with selling to teenagers.

One Republican on the County Council, Doug Richardson, appears tempted to break ranks and lift the county’s ban, as long the county also launches a vigorous crackdown on the black market.

He has supported a budget amendment that would create a fund to hold excise taxes generated by the legal sale of marijuana. The county wouldn’t be eligible for those taxes unless it allowed legal sales, so creating the fund would make no sense if the county weren’t going to lift its ban on licensed retailers.

With Richardson’s help, the council appears headed for a good place.

Legalization is a reality; county officials can’t wish it away. County residents who want to buy pot legally can do so with a drive into Tacoma. If they don’t care about legalities, they can go to one of illegal dispensaries the county is rife with. The county can’t make marijuana less available by banning legal stores.

What the county can do is lift the ban, tap into the gusher of tax revenue, then use the money to enforce the law against the marijuana black market.

Many other jurisdictions have done this and are getting considerable enforcement funding. The latest report from the Liquor and Cannabis Board shows Snohomish County collecting close to $350,000 a year and Spokane County collecting close to $443,000.

Pierce County’s share of the state taxes would likely be comparable. That kind of money would go a long way toward shutting down illegal dispensaries and grow operations, and arresting and prosecuting the criminals operating outside the legal system.

When a proposal to lift the ban comes up next month, the County Council should approve it – and make sure the expected revenues are put to good use cracking down on the black market.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 7:54 PM with the headline "County should grab pot taxes to fight black market."