Marijuana Stores Open in Washington

Washington’s first state-licensed marijuana
store, Top
Shelf Cannabis in Bellingham,
opened at 8 a.m. today, followed by a handful of other shops in
Seattle, Spokane, Kelso, and Prosser. They are among the 25 businesses that

received retail licenses from the Washington State Liquor
Control Board (LCB) yesterday. Most of them were not quite ready to
start selling pot today, but some may open later this week or
month. The LCB intends to award a total of 334 retail licenses
statewide, although that plan looks iffy in light of temporary or
permanent bans adopted by nearly 100 cities and counties.

The first customer at Top Shelf was Cale Holdsworth, a visitor
from Kansas who bought two grams for $26.50—quite a bargain
compared to the steep prices expected due to a
shortage of legal pot. By contrast, the Seattle Post-
Intelligencer
reports that Deborah Greene, the first customer at Cannabis
City, Seattle ‘s first (and so far only) recreational pot shop,
paid $160 for four grams, more than twice as much per gram. The
paper’s cannabis correspondent, Jake Ellison, predicts that typical
prices at state-licensed outlets will range from $15 to $25 per
gram, a lot more than what their illegal and quasi-legal
competitors are charging. 

Until the LCB develops rules for edibles this fall, Washington’s
stores will be selling
buds only, and they won’t have much to sell. The LCB started
licensing growers in March. So far, according to a list
it posted today, it has granted just 86 applications, with more
than 2,500 others still pending. In addition to the shortage of
legal growers, high taxes and and regulatory costs are pushing
prices up.

Although customers lined up today for the novelty of
buying legal pot, the new shops probably will have a hard time

competing with dispensaries and black-market dealers. “My old
supplier just texted me,” Deborah Greene, Cannabis City’s first
buyer,
told The Seattle Times. “[He]
said, ‘I saw you on TV. Now I know why you’re not calling
me.'” She may have been joking, but a lot will hinge on whether
that anecdote sounds plausible a year from now.