PORT TOWNSEND — The Washington Liquor Control Board has begun issuing the first licenses to recreational marijuana producers and processors in Jefferson County.
The first two companies to receive a license, Outback Bud Co. at 71 Eisenbeis Ave., and THC Express, 234 Otto St., are both located in areas zoned for industrial and commercial use and are unaffected by Jefferson County’s six-month moratorium on producers and processors in rural residential areas.
Additional operations in Clallam County — there is a growing operation approved in Dungeness — are held up as regulators consider land use and zoning issues.
Jefferson County’s two licensees are geared up for business in renovated warehouse facilities.
Jeffrey Hanson, owner of THC Express, said he’s proud of the facility he has put together and welcomes scheduled visits.
Hanson, who has been a real estate appraiser in Kitsap and Jefferson counties for more than 35 years, said he decided to get into the recreational marijuana business because it will provide a steady income.
He said it hasn’t been easy. So far he’s put more than a year of his life and between $40,000 and $50,000 into the project.
He nevertheless feels he has found an excellent market niche.
Most of the applicants for a marijuana producer or processor license applied for both, including Outback Bud.
That allows the company to avoid the 25 percent excise tax that is otherwise exacted when a producer (grower) sells to a processor (packager).
Hanson applied only for a processor’s license, saying that growing marijuana requires too large an investment.
Hanson’s plan appears to be working.
THC Express processed its first batch of marijuana earlier this month — 5 pounds, which went to Sea Change Cannabis retail shop in Discovery Bay
The first shipment of raw product came from Green Apple, a grower and processor based near Silverdale.
Green Apple turned to Hanson’s firm because “they have too much product,” Hanson said.
“They can’t do it all.”
He said he’s received “four or five calls from all across Washington, all with the same story.”
He noted that he, too, can avoid the 25 percent tax by working only with others who are licensed processors.
“There’s no tax between processor and processor,” he said.
Hanson said his firm may eventually expand into edibles and oils, but at this point he has his hands full.
Hanson said he’s working with others now entering the recreational marijuana business to improve the public perception of the industry.
The industry was created by Washington voters when they passed I-502, the 2012 initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in Washington.
“We’re a professional business — like bagels, or widgets,” Hanson said.
Except, he added, with heightened security requirements.
The front door of Hanson’s facility is solid steel and has seven dead-bolts.
Before breaking down that door, an intruder’s image would already have been recorded by at least one of the 21 security cameras that are operating 24 hours a day.
Another solid steel door stands between the entry office and the heart of the operation, where the marijuana will be kept.
Hanson said the requirements laid down by the state are rigorous, but that he decided to go even further.
That included the installation of a “clean room,” a small area within the 850-square foot facility where the marijuana will be hand processed.
The room includes an air-cleaning system with a five-layer filter to control odors.
The walls are painted with silver-saturated paint that prevents the growth of molds and other possible contaminants.
“It’s all medical grade,” Hanson said.
Once he’s up and running, Hanson hopes to process between three and five pounds of marijuana a day.
Right now that means placing the appropriate weight of marijuana into air-tight packages and applying the informational labels required by state law.
He described the required chain of events to take raw plants to retail, including two separate tests to analyze the marijuana to ensure it’s free of microbes, mold, pesticides and other contaminants.
The state also requires testing for moisture and the level of THC, the major psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
Hanson complimented local officials who have worked with him on the project, saying those in the Jefferson County building and health departments “bent over backwards” as he built out the new facility.
Because his facility meets and exceeds all of the county, state and health department rules, “the state people love this place,” he said.
Hanson said he encourages critics of the new industry to read the regulations that govern I-502 operations.
That’s the best way to find out how rigorously the industry is regulated, he said.
“I’m just a little guy who’s trying to bring jobs to Jefferson County, and trying to help the economy,” he said.
Altogether, 31 applications were filed in Jefferson County for producer licenses.
Another 24 were filed for processor licenses.
No one with either a producers or processors license can sell their products directly to the public.
Outback Bud owner Mark Williamson hasn’t returned calls from the Peninsula Daily News.
Employees at the facility, which is located adjacent to Otto Street south of Port Townsend, declined to speak to a PDN reporter.
In Clallam County, Tropic Grow LLC is a licensed grower operating in Dungeness.
________
Reporter Mark St.J. Couhig can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at mcouhig@peninsuladailynews.com.
