DISCOVERY BAY — Sea Change Cannabis now has a license to sell marijuana.
But it wasn’t approved in time for Greg Brotherton’s planned Saturday opening of his retail marijuana shop at Discovery Bay.
“We don’t have our license yet,” said Brotherton, owner of the shop at 282332 U.S. Highway 101, early Friday.
“We were under the impression that it would be expedited, but it is taking longer than what we were led to expect.”
Brotherton said he received the final license approval by email at 1 a.m. Saturday. It’s listed on the state Liquor Control Board website at www.liq.wa.gov as having been approved Friday.
It’s the first retail pot shop application on the North Olympic Peninsula to be approved for operation.
Brotherton had planned to open Saturday morning.
He said the store passed inspection Monday. He submitted the necessary paperwork and waited for the issuance of the license.
When the license had not been received by Thursday night, he pulled the plug on Saturday’s debut because he realized he would not be able to meet the state requirement to quarantine his product for 24 hours prior to opening.
He called his supplier and canceled an anticipated Friday delivery.
Brotherton now plans to open the shop at 10 a.m. this coming Friday (July 25) and operate from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day that weekend through Sunday or until all the marijuana is sold.
Brotherton said he will open only during weekends until he has more reliable amounts of marijuana to stock.
“We don’t want to open for a few days and then have to close because we run out, so opening just on weekends to start seems like a good idea,” he said last week.
A statewide shortage of marijuana has inhibited retail shops. The state has licensed about 100 growers so far.
Brotherton said he has secured about 4 pounds of six different strains of smokable marijuana that will be packaged in portions of 1 gram and an eighth of an ounce.
Edible marijuana products will not be available because none have been approved by the state for consumption.
Brotherton estimates the cost per gram will be about $20, while the larger package will cost $50 or $60.
Depending on demand, he may initially have to limit each customer to 1 or 2 grams, he said.
Newspaper stories appeared this week about the opening of the store as the first in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
The first wave of legal marijuana outlets opened in other areas of the state earlier this month.
Brotherton planned to put up a sign on his building to tell those eager to buy that he isn’t in business yet.
The state allotted Jefferson County four retail cannabis stores: one in Port Townsend and three anywhere else.
Two other pot shops in the county are in the latter stage of the approval process.
Gracen Hook, who expects to open Port Townsend’s sole retail outlet at 1433 W. Sims Way, will open in September at the earliest, while Forrest Thomsen’s Herbal Access Retail at 661 Ness’ Corner Road is shooting for mid-August.
In Clallam County — which has been allowed six retail stores, two in Port Angeles, one in Sequim and three anywhere else — shops are not likely to open soon.
Mr. Buds, on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, won’t open this month, said owner Malik Atwater said, while Rodney Caldwell will wait to open Weed-R-Us on U.S. Highway 101 outside Port Angeles until more marijuana is available for sale.
On its Facebook page, the Port Angeles Sparket store said it expects to spend the next six to eight weeks renovating its building on First Street to meet building codes.
Owners of The Hidden Bush outside Port Angeles and High Grade Organics in Forks have not announced a target date for opening.
Washington voters in November 2012 approved Initiative 502, which allows the recreational use of marijuana in the state.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
