Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Washington state’s county prosecutors have entered murky waters in the ever-evolving legal land of recreational marijuana.
Many are still unsure of how to handle charges leveled against state-licensed marijuana retailer employees who were caught making an in-store sale to an underage investigate aid sent in by the Liquor Cannabis Board (LCB).
In King County, three stores — one in Shoreline, one in Kenmore and one in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood — are among the 19 Washington stores that now have employees nervously awaiting news if they will be prosecuted.
It’s hard to say which direction prosecutors will sway, but what is certain, is that prosecution in multiple counties are reluctant to jump to any harsh conclusions.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office has yet to receive official documentation of these three cases from the LCB, and will review them accordingly as they come in, said media relations manager Dan Donohoe.
In counties across Washington, it seems that the paperwork trail for these cases is slow, and pursuing prosecution is an even more reluctant process. This hesitation by county prosecutors may be well founded, as selling a controlled substance such as marijuana to an underage person is classified as a class C felony.
Meaning, if prosecuted, the employee who was responsible for the in-store slip-up could face a penalty of up to five years of confinement and up to a $10,000 fine, even for first time offenders. Felony level charges are passed from the LCB to the store’s respective county prosecutor where many cases now lay in wait.
The Sting
The 19 stores caught by the LCB in their recently completed first full round of compliance checks were by no means the norm, as the board reported that 88 percent of the stores tested did not sell to an underage person.
The “investigative aids” used in the sting operations were between 18 and 20 years old. They either presented their true ID or none at all to store employees when asked for identification. If explicitly asked about their age, they were instructed to say they were 21 years old. If pressed for an ID, they presented their true ID card.
If a pot shop sells to anyone underage, they face a 10-day suspension or a $2,500 fine. If a second violation occurs within three years, the business must be suspended for 30 days. And if a third violation occurs, it means the store will lose its license.
With such harsh punishments for both stores and potentially for employees, many people wonder how these stores could have let this happen in the first place.
Making A Sale, Making A Mistake
Evergreen Cannabis in Blaine is one of the 19 stores that inadvertently made a sale to one of the underage investigative aids.
It was not recklessness that seems to be the root cause of the mishap, but a simple human mathematical error.
The employee who checked the LCB aid’s ID upon entry into the store made a mistake in calculating the aid’s age. The underage informant was less than three months shy of his or her real 21st birthday, according to store owner, Jacob Lamont.
Lamont says his employee, who is still on staff, simply made a mistake that anyone could have made. The slip-up occurred when the store was particularly crowded with customers, and was anything but intentional nor a reoccurring problem, according to Lamont.
“I’m a father, and I would never want my children smoking pot, so I especially don’t want anyone getting the idea that my store sells to minors,” Lamont said.
Marijuana VS. Alcohol
Since the underage sale was revealed to the public, Lamont says his business has been hurting, and it has only fueled the conceptual fire that pot shops are lazy, “stoner” businesses. He noted that alcohol sales to minors at grocery stores happen every day at major retailers, but this is often left to fly under the radar because alcohol is widely socially accepted.
In fact, even though alcohol is also a drug, selling alcohol to a minor does not carry the same weight as a marijuana offense.
“It seems like an anomaly that distribution of alcohol to a minor is a gross misdemeanor while distribution of marijuana is a felony,” Randall Gaylord, prosecuting attorney of San Juan County said. “We’re trying to work out how to deal with that.”
A gross misdemeanor is only punishable by a fine up to $5,000 or by imprisonment in jail for up to one year.
Prosecuting attorney for Thurston County, Tom Tunheim, also expressed that he is struggling with the fact that alcohol offenses are treated much more leniently than marijuana sales, which are now just as legal and regulated.
Thurston County, just like many other counties, has yet to come to a conclusion on how to proceed with prosecution for what appears to be largely isolated incidents. The county prosecutors hope to reach a conclusion on a course of action in several weeks time, aided by consultation with other counties’ prosecution offices, according to Tunheim.
“Everything about 502 is an somewhat of interesting social experiment,” Tunheim said. “There’s all these new issues coming in, and we’re having to constantly think about them as they develop and try to make the best decisions we can from policy standpoint.”
Sting Still Stinging
The threat of potential felony prosecution against the employees who either sold the underage aid marijuana product, or let them into the store, is weighing heavily on the minds of store owners who know their reputation has been tarnished, at least temporarily, in the blink of an eye.
Despite holding regular staff meetings to ensure both the best employee service and to abide by LCB state laws, Dockside Cannabis of Shoreline was another of the stores that inadvertently made a sale to an underage aid due to a mathematical error as well.
“We just had an all-hands meeting the weekend before on how to check IDs,” Oscar Velasco-Schmitz, director of Dockside said. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking to have this happen because we pride ourselves on trying to be the best for the industry. Having a setback like this happen is a punch to the stomach, especially since we have been trying so diligently to normalize this industry and be great actors within it.”
The LCB encourages pot shops to take extra precaution in checking ID’s, not once, but twice. They want store employees to check a patron’s ID upon entry, and then again at the time of purchase. This redundant behavior makes for a less than seamless customer experience, said Velasco-Schmitz, who now enforces this practice in his store.
At this stage in the still-to-be-chartered landscape of recreational marijuana shops, it may be likely that these employees, many of whom simply misread an ID, can walk away from this mishap not having to be labeled as a felon.
“I think it is very unlikely you would see criminal charges here,” Mark Lindquist, Pierce County prosecutor said when interviewed about the first round of stings in May. “Even if the elements are met, beyond a reasonable doubt, we consider other things to decide whether it is fair and just to proceed. I think this is the kind of situation, whether it’s a misdemeanor or a felony, where it’s likely to be a warning letter.”
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Employees who sold marijuana to underage in sting unlikely to be prosecuted - The Pot Blog
Author: Emily Muirhead
Contact: Contact the staff of seattlepi.com - seattlepi.com
Photo Credit: Matthew Staver / Bloomberg
Website: Blogs - seattlepi.com
Many are still unsure of how to handle charges leveled against state-licensed marijuana retailer employees who were caught making an in-store sale to an underage investigate aid sent in by the Liquor Cannabis Board (LCB).
In King County, three stores — one in Shoreline, one in Kenmore and one in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood — are among the 19 Washington stores that now have employees nervously awaiting news if they will be prosecuted.
It’s hard to say which direction prosecutors will sway, but what is certain, is that prosecution in multiple counties are reluctant to jump to any harsh conclusions.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office has yet to receive official documentation of these three cases from the LCB, and will review them accordingly as they come in, said media relations manager Dan Donohoe.
In counties across Washington, it seems that the paperwork trail for these cases is slow, and pursuing prosecution is an even more reluctant process. This hesitation by county prosecutors may be well founded, as selling a controlled substance such as marijuana to an underage person is classified as a class C felony.
Meaning, if prosecuted, the employee who was responsible for the in-store slip-up could face a penalty of up to five years of confinement and up to a $10,000 fine, even for first time offenders. Felony level charges are passed from the LCB to the store’s respective county prosecutor where many cases now lay in wait.
The Sting
The 19 stores caught by the LCB in their recently completed first full round of compliance checks were by no means the norm, as the board reported that 88 percent of the stores tested did not sell to an underage person.
The “investigative aids” used in the sting operations were between 18 and 20 years old. They either presented their true ID or none at all to store employees when asked for identification. If explicitly asked about their age, they were instructed to say they were 21 years old. If pressed for an ID, they presented their true ID card.
If a pot shop sells to anyone underage, they face a 10-day suspension or a $2,500 fine. If a second violation occurs within three years, the business must be suspended for 30 days. And if a third violation occurs, it means the store will lose its license.
With such harsh punishments for both stores and potentially for employees, many people wonder how these stores could have let this happen in the first place.
Making A Sale, Making A Mistake
Evergreen Cannabis in Blaine is one of the 19 stores that inadvertently made a sale to one of the underage investigative aids.
It was not recklessness that seems to be the root cause of the mishap, but a simple human mathematical error.
The employee who checked the LCB aid’s ID upon entry into the store made a mistake in calculating the aid’s age. The underage informant was less than three months shy of his or her real 21st birthday, according to store owner, Jacob Lamont.
Lamont says his employee, who is still on staff, simply made a mistake that anyone could have made. The slip-up occurred when the store was particularly crowded with customers, and was anything but intentional nor a reoccurring problem, according to Lamont.
“I’m a father, and I would never want my children smoking pot, so I especially don’t want anyone getting the idea that my store sells to minors,” Lamont said.
Marijuana VS. Alcohol
Since the underage sale was revealed to the public, Lamont says his business has been hurting, and it has only fueled the conceptual fire that pot shops are lazy, “stoner” businesses. He noted that alcohol sales to minors at grocery stores happen every day at major retailers, but this is often left to fly under the radar because alcohol is widely socially accepted.
In fact, even though alcohol is also a drug, selling alcohol to a minor does not carry the same weight as a marijuana offense.
“It seems like an anomaly that distribution of alcohol to a minor is a gross misdemeanor while distribution of marijuana is a felony,” Randall Gaylord, prosecuting attorney of San Juan County said. “We’re trying to work out how to deal with that.”
A gross misdemeanor is only punishable by a fine up to $5,000 or by imprisonment in jail for up to one year.
Prosecuting attorney for Thurston County, Tom Tunheim, also expressed that he is struggling with the fact that alcohol offenses are treated much more leniently than marijuana sales, which are now just as legal and regulated.
Thurston County, just like many other counties, has yet to come to a conclusion on how to proceed with prosecution for what appears to be largely isolated incidents. The county prosecutors hope to reach a conclusion on a course of action in several weeks time, aided by consultation with other counties’ prosecution offices, according to Tunheim.
“Everything about 502 is an somewhat of interesting social experiment,” Tunheim said. “There’s all these new issues coming in, and we’re having to constantly think about them as they develop and try to make the best decisions we can from policy standpoint.”
Sting Still Stinging
The threat of potential felony prosecution against the employees who either sold the underage aid marijuana product, or let them into the store, is weighing heavily on the minds of store owners who know their reputation has been tarnished, at least temporarily, in the blink of an eye.
Despite holding regular staff meetings to ensure both the best employee service and to abide by LCB state laws, Dockside Cannabis of Shoreline was another of the stores that inadvertently made a sale to an underage aid due to a mathematical error as well.
“We just had an all-hands meeting the weekend before on how to check IDs,” Oscar Velasco-Schmitz, director of Dockside said. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking to have this happen because we pride ourselves on trying to be the best for the industry. Having a setback like this happen is a punch to the stomach, especially since we have been trying so diligently to normalize this industry and be great actors within it.”
The LCB encourages pot shops to take extra precaution in checking ID’s, not once, but twice. They want store employees to check a patron’s ID upon entry, and then again at the time of purchase. This redundant behavior makes for a less than seamless customer experience, said Velasco-Schmitz, who now enforces this practice in his store.
At this stage in the still-to-be-chartered landscape of recreational marijuana shops, it may be likely that these employees, many of whom simply misread an ID, can walk away from this mishap not having to be labeled as a felon.
“I think it is very unlikely you would see criminal charges here,” Mark Lindquist, Pierce County prosecutor said when interviewed about the first round of stings in May. “Even if the elements are met, beyond a reasonable doubt, we consider other things to decide whether it is fair and just to proceed. I think this is the kind of situation, whether it’s a misdemeanor or a felony, where it’s likely to be a warning letter.”
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Employees who sold marijuana to underage in sting unlikely to be prosecuted - The Pot Blog
Author: Emily Muirhead
Contact: Contact the staff of seattlepi.com - seattlepi.com
Photo Credit: Matthew Staver / Bloomberg
Website: Blogs - seattlepi.com
