Hundreds of pounds of Blue Dream, Blueberry Purple Kush, One Armed Bandit and other popular pot strains will be sold this weekend in Washington's first state-sanctioned marijuana auction.

Randy Williams, the owner of Fireweed Farms in Prosser, said he hopes to auction off about 500 pounds of pot Saturday from his 450-plant outdoor farm in Eastern Washington. It will be sold in lots ranging from 5 pounds to 100 pounds.

The event is the first of its kind in the state, said Mikhail Carpenter, a spokesman for the Washington Liquor Control Board, which oversees the state's licensed marijuana industry.

Carpenter said only people licensed to produce, process and sell marijuana in Washington may participate in the auction, which will be attended by state marijuana enforcement authorities.

Greg James, publisher of Marijuana Venture, a Seattle-based trade magazine for the marijuana industry, said the Fireweed auction is a sign of where the industry is headed.

He said farmers of conventional crops, like corn, don’t typically handle their own processing and packaging, turning instead to distributors and other middlemen, something he suspects marijuana producers will eventually do as well.

“It works that way in every single other business,” he said.

Williams, who grew marijuana for personal use before he entered the state's commercial industry, said he opted to auction off his crop because he doesn't know how to set a price. He said he charged $1,500 a pound for 68 pounds he sold earlier this year to help cover expenses.

The cannabis at the auction will be dried, trimmed and lab tested. An advertisement for the event shows large outdoor marijuana plants on Williams' farm, which produces more than two dozen strains.

Williams has had so much interest that he’s worried he won’t have enough parking. Everyone who comes to the auction has to bring their state-issued processor or retailer license.

By auctioning off his pot, he doesn’t have to bother with packaging.

“I just want to get rid of it and take off and go on vacation for a while,” he said. “Whatever I get, I get.”

-- Noelle Crombie