OLYMPIA –– Winners of a state lottery are in line to run the 10 retail marijuana shops allocated for the North Olympic Peninsula.
The results were announced by the Washington State Liquor Control Board this morning.
Lottery winners will now undergo a more intensive screening process before receiving state licenses to sell recreational marijuana, made legal by the voter-approved Initiative 502.
The businesses were drawn randomly from lists of pre-approved applicants in jurisdictions that have been allocated pot shops by the Liquor Board.
They were ranked in order of the draw. The state will now do background checks on the lottery winners and will more thoroughly review their business plans.
If winning applicants do not pass the screening process, the state will then go through the same process with the next-ranked applicant.
The first retail shops are expected to open in July.
The state allotted Clallam County six retail stores: two in Port Angeles, one in Sequim and three anywhere else.
It will allow Jefferson County four retail cannabis stores: one in Port Townsend and three anywhere else.
Sequim and Port Townsend have put moratoria on allowing pot businesses to set up shop in their city limits.
If they pass the screening process, the following businesses have been chosen by the state to operate retail marijuana stores on the Peninsula:
■ Clallam County unincorporated: The Hidden Bush, 2840 E. U.S. Highway 101, Port Angeles; High Grade Organics, 100 LaPush Road, Suite 602, Forks; Weed-R-Us, 2941 E. U.S. Highway 101, Port Angeles.
■ Jefferson County unincorporated: Sea Change Cannabis, 282332 U.S. Highway 101, Port Townsend; Chimacum Cannabis, 1473 Chimacum Road, Building 1, Suite A, Chimacum; Herbal Access, 661 Ness Corner Road, Port Hadlock.
■ City of Port Angeles: Pacific Education, 536 Marine Drive, Suite B; Sparket, 1403 E. First St.
■ City of Port Townsend: Peninsula Herbal 1433 W. Sims Way, unit B.
■ City of Sequim: Emanon Systems Inc., 755 W. Washington St. Suite C.
There were 12 applicants in the Clallam County lottery, five in the Jefferson County lottery, eight in Port Angeles, four in Port Townsend and five in Sequim.
The state held the lottery because 1,170 applications had passed initial screenings to run the 334 stores the state is initially allowing.
State-run lotteries determined who would get first crack at running pot shops in 75 jurisdictions.
The lottery was done by the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center of Washington State University and the accounting firm for Washington’s Lottery, Kraght-Snell of Seattle, last week.
There are multiple requirements for licensure. An applicant must pass a criminal history and financial investigation as well as have a location that is not within 1,000 feet of a school, park or other area specified by Initiative 502 as places where children congregate.
The retail shops will be supplied by state-licensed producers and processors.
As of April 29, the Liquor Board has issued 25 producer and processor licenses, including two on the North Olympic Peninsula: Tropic Grow in Dungeness and Peninsula Cannabis in Port Angeles.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
