WA Group Challenging New Medical Marijuana Law

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A Washington State group is looking to challenge newly minted regulations that roll the state’s medical marijuana market into its heavily regulated recreational cannabis program.

The group hopes to gather enough signatures to get a referendum in front of voters that would unravel the new law. A spokesman for the proposal – dubbed Referendum 76 – said the regulations limit access for patients who use MMJ to treat various ailments.

The new law – which the governor signed April 27 – will essentially eliminate the state’s mostly unregulated medical marijuana industry and force existing MMJ businesses to get licenses under the recreational cannabis program or close down.

Washington State’s medical marijuana program has been self-regulated since its inception in 1998, and dispensaries have adopted their own standards, said Don Skakie, the spokesman for the referendum, according to KGMI News.

The group will need to get enough signatures to put the referendum on the ballot.