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Three Years Later, Marijuana Still Trending As Hot Topic In Olympia

At Rainier Xpress dispensary in Olympia a gram of high quality medicinal marijuana sells for a $8 to $10.
Austin Jenkins
/
Northwest News Network
At Rainier Xpress dispensary in Olympia a gram of high quality medicinal marijuana sells for a $8 to $10.

Is the tax on legal marijuana in Washington too high?

A legislative panel will consider a proposal Monday to reduce the tax from 37 percent down to 25 percent. It’s just one of dozens of pot-related proposals under consideration this year.

Three years after Washington launched its experiment with legal recreational marijuana, the work continues to regulate, fine-tune and expand this new marketplace.

Pot-related proposals abound this year in the Washington legislature. From reducing the tax on marijuana to allowing the sale of pot merchandise to piloting a marijuana delivery program in Seattle. And that’s just a sampling.

Last year, the Washington legislature regulated the medical marijuana industry signaling the end of the ubiquitous green cross dispensaries. The legislature also overhauled the tax structure for recreational marijuana, collapsing the previous three-tier system into a single point of sale tax.

In a sign of the times, the legislature also formally changed the name of the Liquor Control Board to the Liquor and Cannabis Board.

Copyright 2016 Northwest News Network

Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy, as well as the Washington State Legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia."