MJ’s, Pullman’s first recreational marijuana shop, opened its doors to a modest crowd just over a year ago. Unlike larger metropolitan areas such as Spokane or Seattle, where pot shop grand openings draw hundreds of patrons, MJ’s first rush was about 60 people.
Since then, Smith said she has seen the residents of conservative eastern Washington grow a little more familiar with mainstream marijuana, but only slightly.
“People still think it’s Reefer Madness “” Cheech and Chong,” Smith said. “They think we’re all here smoking pot. They think like, we’re legal, so we’re all stoned.”
But Smith means business.
Four years ago, when CannaSafe Analytics founder and lab director Randy Haskin got into the business of cannabis, the industry was already picking up speed. Since then, he said it has only continued to grow “” and fast.
“When we first started in this industry, about 90 percent of the people who walked through the door were the original “”Hey dude’ culture of marijuana “” backyard growers, you know, it was just a game to them,” Haskin said. “What we’re seeing now is completely flipped. People show up in suits and ties with packaged products and research behind them.”
CannaSafe Analytics is one of four International Organization for Standardization-accredited cannabis profiling labs in the country, with locations in California, Nevada and Washington. They opened their Pullman location shortly after Smith opened hers.
Haskin said at CannaSafe labs, they primarily test marijuana strains’ concentration and chemical content. They ensure products do not contain pesticides, heavy metals or mildew and are otherwise safe for consumption. They also provide clients with concentration and dosage information so their products are properly labeled.
Haskin said results produced at CannaSafe are recognized as accurate, verifiable and reproducible not only nationwide, but worldwide “” they have already done testing for clients in China, the Czech Republic, Spain and Australia.
“These products are becoming known worldwide,” Haskin said. “There are a lot of people looking for accredited laboratories that have good, accredited results.”
Smith said many people still don’t realize the products she sells are thoroughly tested and regulated, and they still consider it a black market industry “” yet venture capitalists and other serious businesspeople such as Smith and Haskin have taken notice. Haskin said he wouldn’t be surprised if recreational cannabis use was legal nationwide by 2020.
He also said marijuana and hemp production in the U.S. is slated to overtake combined U.S. corn, wheat and tobacco industries by 2018.
“It’s a multi-billion dollar industry,” Haskin said.
As recreational and medical marijuana businesses continue to take off, Haskin said labs like CannaSafe will become much more common. Their latest project, he said, is phenotyping the entire genome of the cannabis plant.
Smith said eventually, she expects the stigma surrounding marijuana to go away completely.
“It will be just like alcohol,” Smith said. “No big deal. It will be regulated, but I think (the federal government) will loosen up and won’t be on our case as much.”
Idaho State Representative Caroline Troy said Idaho won’t be the state leading national marijuana legalization, though.
“(Idaho legislators) are going to sit back and see what it really means to law enforcement and social services before they would really move forward,” Troy said.
Troy said she is open-minded about medical marijuana, and when a Senate bill moved through the Idaho legislature last March seeking to authorize limited use of cannabidiol oil for children who experience severe seizures, she voted in favor of it. The discussion about the bill was contentious, but the ayes had it in both the House and the Senate.
Idaho Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter vetoed the bill, and Troy said while that was frustrating, she doesn’t think it’s the most pressing issue on Idahoans’ minds.
“(Constituents) haven’t brought it up to me,” she said. “Folks like me who have had some medical issues that have only been resolved through non-traditional means have been very excited and supportive of non-traditional methods, but other than that it’s not really on the top of minds of people who I’ve visited with.”
Idaho State Sen. Dan Johnson hasn’t heard conversations about it either, but he said he wouldn’t be surprised if marijuana came up again in the upcoming legislative session.
“I’ve talked to folks who thought it should be legalized and who thought it should not be legalized, and they’ve all had different opinions on why they thought that way,” Johnson said. “There are some questions, and a real diversity of opinions.”
Johnson said he voted against the March Senate bill because he wants more discussion about how medical use of cannabis derivatives fits under state and constitutional law.
For now, Johnson would agree with Troy that the Idaho legislature will watch surrounding states carefully.
“They’re in the process of trying (medical and recreational marijuana) if you will,” Johnson said. “They will get all the bugs worked out, and for the other states it’s an opportunity to watch and learn.”