MONROE — You can’t legally buy cannabis in Monroe.
But drive a mile outside of city limits, to unincorporated Snohomish County, and you can.
Cannabis company Origins, which owns two licenses to operate in Monroe, is pushing the city to revoke its ban.
But in June, the City Council voted 5-1 against taking the question to residents, citing safety and constitutional concerns. Origins leadership said these arguments were not based in facts. The company is now eyeing a citizen-led initiative.
Origins tasked polling firm GMA Research with surveying residents, the company’s Compliance Director Morgan Sokol said. Results showed 63% of adult respondents supported the city allowing cannabis retailers and 59% felt positive about having a store in Monroe.
Voters legalized recreational cannabis in Washington in 2012, but let cities decide their own rules. Monroe’s ban was written into code in 2015. Other Snohomish County cities with similar rules include Marysville, Mill Creek, Lynnwood, Snohomish and Stanwood. In May, half of Lynnwood’s City Council favored looking into repealing the ban.
“It’s been so long since the original initiative passed,” Sokol said. “We really felt like it was time to have that conversation with the community.”
Changes might be coming at the state level. During the last legislative session, state House lawmakers proposed a bill requiring cities hold a public vote to maintain a cannabis ban. The measure did not make it to the House floor.
Origins currently has two stores, in West Seattle and Redmond. Because the state only issued 440 cannabis retail licenses, they are now sold for anywhere from $500,000 to $3 million, Origins CEO Sean Miller said. Companies can’t own more than five licenses.
Still, Miller said investing in Monroe is worth it.
“Monroe is a shopping mecca for those neighboring communities,” he said.
Origins projects a $5,400,000 revenue in its first year.
City staff estimated the city’s revenue from the stores would be $50,000 per year. Miller said it could be a lot higher and cover some of the city parks department’s budget deficit.
Council member Kyle Fisher said allowing cannabis would pave the way for robberies, noting these stores are “kind of a soft target for criminals” because they have to do most of their business in cash.
“My decision on upholding the moratorium for now is just based on safety,” he said in an interview.
Fisher pointed to Seattle dispensary Uncle Ike’s informal retail cannabis robbery tracker. Since 2017, the tracker has counted close to 300 cases. In 2022, three armed men robbed Origin’s West Seattle location.
A bill proposed in Olympia this year to lengthen prison sentences for those convicted of cannabis store robberies could help dissuade crime, Fisher said. The bill didn’t make it to the House floor.
Sokol said Origins trains staff and has security cameras inside and outside as well as alarms and panic buttons.
A 2021 study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice found a modest but statistically significant increase in property crime where new cannabis retail stores were present, with the caveat that more studies were necessary.
Council member Kevin Hanford said in the study session Origin’s facilities impressed him. But his oath to uphold the Constitution prevailed.
The youngest council member, Jacob Walker, cast the lone vote in favor of bringing the issue to voters.
An insurance broker, he said cannabis stores are safer than most realize. Origins’ security standards impressed him, too.
Still, Walker, 27, acknowledged cannabis stores are targeted more for robberies than other retailers.
But when he door knocked while campaigning, some constituents asked him about the ban.
Walker, who wasn’t old enough to vote in 2012, thinks voters should be asked directly.
Mayor Geoffrey Thomas shared concerns about the risk, but considers personal choice important.
His views shifted five or six years ago when he saw how much the state regulated the cannabis industry.
But as a mayor, he doesn’t have voting power on the council.
Aina de Lapparent Alvarez: 425-339-3449; aina.alvarez@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @Ainadla.
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