marijuana-leaves-AP.jpg

A pot plant

(The Associated Press/2013)

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Around the time Karen Stratton was appointed to the Spokane City Council, she planted her first marijuana crop.

The Spokesman Review reports that Stratton owns a pot farm with her husband, two family members and an unnamed partner. They spent tens of thousands of dollars on the operation and planted their first crop in the Spangle area in August.

Stratton told the newspaper that she asked herself if owning a pot farm would be any different from opening a winery. She decided it was not.

Stratton's husband, Chris Wright, is a lawyer who sits on the Spokane Park Board. He says the responses he receives about their business range "from curiosity to unbridled support."

The couple says they don't use marijuana but instead wanted to bring it into the "mainstream" and hopefully make a profit.