WA Gives Seattle Dispensaries 14 Days to Get License

A new policy decision announced in letters to Seattle medical cannabis dispensaries last week has some worried that they may have to uproot their businesses.

MMJ dispensaries in the city now have just days left to decide whether or not they’ll try for a license within the city limits, move elsewhere, or close up shop, according to KING News. The Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board reportedly decided that there are too few new licenses available for dispensaries in the city, and notified them last week that they had only 14 days to either obtain a state license, relocate or shutter.

Under the orginal new law, intended to roll MMJ businesses into the same regulatory system as recreational companies, dispensaries were slated to have until July to get permits, which will jump from 334 to 556 statewide for storefronts. So the notification that the businesses have less than a week now is almost certainly a shock to many Seattle shop owners.

If owners don’t leave Seattle, they’ll have to sign a form “acknowledging the risk of remaining in Seattle and losing their business,” KING reported.