Except for tourists and the pot curious, who will each buy a few grams at most, the appeal of state-licensed recreational marijuana won’t go much farther than novelty in Seattle. Especially under the current tax and regulatory structure pushing prices up … but not just because of that.

The strongest reason is cultural: Regular users already have a cornucopia of choices and law enforcement around here has spent years getting used to marijuana as a low-priority, creating in the Emerald City something akin to an open market for cannabis.

Consequently, it’s easy to get.

“Oh, you mean the scary dude skulking in the alleyway?”

Not exactly.

Just Google “deliver marijuana Seattle” or pick up a copy of The Stranger and look at the back page … and you’re on your way. Or, take the afternoon off and get a medical card. Then your options for delivery or in-store shopping are nearly limitless, with hundreds of MMJ storefronts throughout Seattle.

And, because of Initiative 502, once you have weed — no matter where you got it — you’re golden. The worst that can happen to you in Seattle is a $25 ticket for “open container” or “displaying” … but then you’d pretty much have to blow it right in a cop’s face while stealing candy from a child.

The Liquor Board screwed it up!

One person who thinks so told the Associated Press, “Our company is bleeding money, and I haven’t sold a single joint.”

Pete O’Neil, the AP wrote, struck out in Washington’s lottery for coveted pot-shop licenses. He has unsuccessfully tried to buy companies that scored a lucky number. In frustration, he’s turning what would have been his Seattle retail store into a medical marijuana dispensary.

So, could the LCB have done more to turn O’Neil and others away from the MMJ market?

Maybe. But the board seems to be following the intent of the initiative and building a respectable, though bureaucratic, market that will well serve much of Washington — just not Seattle.

(Of course, many cities and counties in the state have moratoriums, bans or strict zoning blocking the legal market, pretty much making every black and gray market dealer snicker, but that’s another story.)

And, other than making big, probably illegal exceptions to I-502 and its voted-in tax structure, I doubt there’s much the board can do. Even if the state lifted all the quantity restraints on growers and limits on retail stores — a situation that would be impossible to regulate, so why bother — the result would be an environment here even more hostile to I-502 licensed stores.

Again, the key obstacle to I-502 stores in Seattle vs. the rest of the state is that Seattle is already an island of weed.

In fact, one black market grower I talked with recently thought I-502 will be a boon to his business because there will be even more weed-buyers around and he’ll have good stuff that will cost far less.

Outside of Seattle where law enforcement hasn’t been told by voters to make marijuana busts their lowest priority — on the east side of the Cascades especially — I-502 stores will do much better. Those stores will likely do as much local sales as tourists sales.

Crack down on MMJ and dealers?

The state Legislature will try again this upcoming session to rein in and regulate the medical marijuana market in Washington. If they restrict the qualifying conditions, limit collective gardens and do away with dispensaries and force all sales through I-502 … that could push more business to those $25 grams.

But, again, Seattle’s black market with $8 grams and ounces as low as $160-$200 will pick up at least some of those buyers (plus, many MMJ growers will switch to the black market, increasing supply).

Should we Seattleites fire up the War on Marijuana battle cruisers and start making mass arrests again?

“Your stash weighed in at 1.01 ounces! Book ’em Danno!”

Somehow I get the feeling Seattle voters and politicians would frown on that. And, using police arrests to shore up I-502 businesses seems down right un-American.

I think, we simply need to accept that I-502 marijuana retail in Seattle will primarily be for tourists and the pot-curious who will buy far less than an ounce a year, and that the “black market” will be more and more a de facto part of our free-market economy.

Seattle’s open market for weed is once again foreshadowing the evolution of marijuana in the U.S.

Will I-502, retail marijuana stores matter much in Seattle? Yes - Eventually they will take over the marijuana market

No - The black and medical markets will remain dominant in Seattle View Results

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Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook.

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