By Jerry Cornfield Herald writer
EVERETT – One day, in the not too distant future, you may find yourself inside Woody’s Weed Warehouse on Evergreen Way eyeing a line of marijuana products produced by Wacky Tobacky in Stanwood.
Or maybe you’ll drop by Bud Man on Hartford Drive in Lake Stevens to sniff the aroma of the latest strain grown and harvested indoors by the owner’s friends at Just Herb.
While the possibilities for buying marijuana legally in Washington won’t be endless, they are going to be plentiful given the initial tide of license applications received by the state.
The state Liquor Control Board on Tuesday released the names of the 929 applicants for licenses to produce, process and sell marijuana received since Nov. 18, when the window for applying opened. The deadline to apply is Dec. 19.
The state is in the process of reviewing each application and doesn’t expect to issue any licenses until late February or early March 2014.
Of the 929 applicants, 96 want to set up shop in Snohomish County including 35 who want to grow, 48 who want to process and 13 looking to operate retail stores in Everett, Lake Stevens, Monroe, Lynnwood, Snohomish, Stanwood and Edmonds.
“This is the first real glance at where the applications have been received from. You’ll be able to see in the community where people are looking to locate,” said Brian Smith, spokesman for the liquor board which will update the list next week. “I think people from city planners to law enforcement to average citizens are going to look at it at least out of curiosity.”
Donivian Demar of Snohomish, the 27-year-old owner of Just Herb, said he was unimpressed with the number.
“I was expecting thousands of people to apply since it is seen as a kind of a gold rush thing,” he said. “Maybe it is just the serious people.”
As of Tuesday morning, there were 444 applications for pot growing licenses and 327 for packaging cannabis into a variety of smokeable, edible and infusible products. Dozens of people applied for both as allowed under the rules enacted by the state Liquor Control Board.
The state also received 158 requests for licenses to operate a retail store in which people 21 years and older will be able to legally buy marijuana and marijuana products over the counter. The board intends to allow up to 334 pot shops statewide, including up to 35 in Snohomish County.
Only 13 retail license requests had come in as of Tuesday but of those, five are in Everett, the maximum number the state is allotting to the city. Lynnwood has two requests, which is the limit allocated there.
In Monroe, which is allowed one store, there are two license applications. This sets up the possibility of a lottery to award the license.
Judging by how budding entrepreneurs named their enterprises, the legal marijuana industry is going to be a colorful one.
Among the stores, there’s Dank’s Wonder Emporium in Everett; Ye Olde Dope Shoppe, in Lake Forest Park; 420 Hash in Lynnwood, Sweet Mary Jane’s in Seattle; Maui Wowie in Redmond; and Happy Daze, in Selah.
As far as growers, they got creative too with applications for Holy Smokes Farms in Camano Island and The THC Brothers in Ridgefield.
Then there is the less flamboyant Oliver’s Farm run by 65-year-old Donald Burks on 50 acres outside Arlington. He grows fruit and vegetables today. By next year he’s looking to try his hand at marijuana, with a focus on producing high-quality seedlings for sale. He’s applied for a license for an operation between 10,000 and 30,000 square feet.
“I thought I’d give it a try,” he said. “I don’t know anything about marijuana. I know how to produce seeds. My interest is in providing premium seed stocks to other growers.”
He’s not put off by the thousands of dollars he’ll need to invest to comply with all the state standards.
“I have the facilities and I have the means. Every farmer is always looking for a new cash crop,” he said. “This industry has great possibility, but nobody really knows how it will work out.”
A list of applicants of marijuana business licenses can be found at www.liq.wa.gov.
Herald writer Scott North contributed to this report.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com
Snohomish County marijuana license applications
All license types
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Marijuana processor | 35 |
| Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 16 |
| Marijuana producer Tier 2 | 19 |
| Marijuana producer Tier 3 | 13 |
| Marijuana retailer | 13 |
| Total | 96 |
All license types by city
| City | Count |
|---|---|
| Snohomish | 20 |
| Everett | 16 |
| Lake Stevens | 12 |
| Stanwood | 7 |
| Monroe | 7 |
| Marysville | 7 |
| Arlington | 6 |
| Sultan | 5 |
| Lynnwood | 4 |
| Granite Falls | 3 |
| Woodinville | 2 |
| Mountlake Terrace | 2 |
| Gold Bar | 2 |
| Bothell | 2 |
| Edmonds | 1 |
| Total | 96 |
Marijuana retailer
| City | Count |
|---|---|
| Everett | 5 |
| Monroe | 2 |
| Lynnwood | 2 |
| Stanwood | 1 |
| Snohomish | 1 |
| Lake Stevens | 1 |
| Edmonds | 1 |
| Total | 13 |
Marijuana processor
| City | Count |
|---|---|
| Snohomish | 7 |
| Lake Stevens | 5 |
| Everett | 5 |
| Stanwood | 3 |
| Marysville | 3 |
| Sultan | 2 |
| Monroe | 2 |
| Arlington | 2 |
| Woodinville | 1 |
| Mountlake Terrace | 1 |
| Lynnwood | 1 |
| Granite Falls | 1 |
| Gold Bar | 1 |
| Bothell | 1 |
| Total | 35 |
Marijuana producer Tier 1
(Less than 2,000 square feet)| City | Countofid |
|---|---|
| Snohomish | 3 |
| Marysville | 2 |
| Lake Stevens | 2 |
| Granite Falls | 2 |
| Everett | 2 |
| Woodinville | 1 |
| Stanwood | 1 |
| Monroe | 1 |
| Lynnwood | 1 |
| Bothell | 1 |
| Total | 16 |
Marijuana producer Tier 2
(2,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet)| City | Count |
|---|---|
| Snohomish | 4 |
| Sultan | 3 |
| Lake Stevens | 3 |
| Everett | 3 |
| Stanwood | 2 |
| Marysville | 2 |
| Monroe | 1 |
| Gold Bar | 1 |
| Total | 19 |
Marijuana producer Tier 3
(10,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet)| City | Count |
|---|---|
| Snohomish | 5 |
| Arlington | 4 |
| Mountlake Terrace | 1 |
| Monroe | 1 |
| Lake Stevens | 1 |
| Everett | 1 |
| Total | 13 |
All marijuana license applicants by city
| City | Type | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Arlington | Marijuana processor | 2 |
| Arlington | Marijuana producer Tier 3 | 4 |
| Bothell | Marijuana processor | 1 |
| Bothell | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 1 |
| Edmonds | Marijuana retailer | 1 |
| Everett | Marijuana processor | 5 |
| Everett | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 2 |
| Everett | Marijuana producer Tier 2 | 3 |
| Everett | Marijuana producer Tier 3 | 1 |
| Everett | Marijuana retailer | 5 |
| Gold Bar | Marijuana processor | 1 |
| Gold Bar | Marijuana producer Tier 2 | 1 |
| Granite Falls | Marijuana processor | 1 |
| Granite Falls | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 2 |
| Lake Stevens | Marijuana processor | 5 |
| Lake Stevens | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 2 |
| Lake Stevens | Marijuana producer Tier 2 | 3 |
| Lake Stevens | Marijuana producer Tier 3 | 1 |
| Lake Stevens | Marijuana retailer | 1 |
| Lynnwood | Marijuana processor | 1 |
| Lynnwood | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 1 |
| Lynnwood | Marijuana retailer | 2 |
| Marysville | Marijuana processor | 3 |
| Marysville | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 2 |
| Marysville | Marijuana producer Tier 2 | 2 |
| Monroe | Marijuana processor | 2 |
| Monroe | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 1 |
| Monroe | Marijuana producer Tier 2 | 1 |
| Monroe | Marijuana producer Tier 3 | 1 |
| Monroe | Marijuana retailer | 2 |
| Mountlake Terrace | Marijuana processor | 1 |
| Mountlake Terrace | Marijuana producer Tier 3 | 1 |
| Snohomish | Marijuana processor | 7 |
| Snohomish | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 3 |
| Snohomish | Marijuana producer Tier 2 | 4 |
| Snohomish | Marijuana producer Tier 3 | 5 |
| Snohomish | Marijuana retailer | 1 |
| Stanwood | Marijuana processor | 3 |
| Stanwood | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 1 |
| Stanwood | Marijuana producer Tier 2 | 2 |
| Stanwood | Marijuana retailer | 1 |
| Sultan | Marijuana processor | 2 |
| Sultan | Marijuana producer Tier 2 | 3 |
| Woodinville | Marijuana processor | 1 |
| Woodinville | Marijuana producer Tier 1 | 1 |
| Total | 96 |
