Millionaire Seeks to Control Washington State Cannabis Laws

Pending legislation in Washington may put the unregulated medical cannabis market under the looming eye of the state and one man in control of medical cannabis. Back in November 2012, Washington’s recreational cannabis legalization Initiative 502 passed by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent. This legalized the creation of a legal market for recreational cannabis, but the initiative did not set up any guidelines for medical cannabis.

Now a new bill is being presented to Washington State Senate to control the regulation of medical cannabis in the state. The bill, sponsored by Republican, Sen. Ann Rivers, will favor a small group of wealthy legal weed entrepreneurs. The bill is concerning because the language of the document would seem to create a competitive advantage for special interest groups and threaten patient’s access to medical cannabis at affordable prices. One individual who has provided substantial backing for the bill had heavy influence on the bills drafting. That man is Martin Tobias.

Martin Tobias is a former Microsoft executive and business entrepreneur who has a major investment in Washington’s growing legal cannabis market. Tobias provided the initial funding for the Washington CannaBusiness Association, a 38 member group of legal weed business owners — only a very small portion of the hundreds of state licenses growers, processors and retailers. If such a small group has had heavy influence in the drafting of the new bill, that means bad news for their competitors.

“Martin [Tobias] was a seed funder for the Washington CannaBusiness Association, but we will continue to grow and expand our funding base,” said Vicki Christophersen, executive director of WACA. “But he stepped up to get us started.” Christophersen confirmed that Tobias is also “part of a licensed [marijuana] producer/processor,” although she declined to name the business or discuss Tobias involvement as a cannabis producer.

We do know however, that Tobias is also invested in the development of the South Fork Business Park in Raymond. SFBP has about 12 cannabis businesses as tenants, and according to their website, has a goal of controlling at least 15% of Washington’s legal cannabis production. With such aggressive business plans, Washington medical cannabis business owners had better hope the bill that Tobias helped draft doesn’t pass senate vote.

Christophersen further revealed that WACA worked closely with Sen. Rivers while she drafted the bill “and she took a lot of our suggestions.” One spokesperson from Sen. Rivers’ office confirmed that WACA is a “stakeholder” that assisted Sen. Rivers in “crafting the legislation.” The current pending legislation would make hundreds of medical cannabis businesses operating in the current grey market illegal. “If current medical market producers and retailers are not provided pathways toward white market participation, and are outlawed instead, it’s pretty clear that will reinvigorate the black market,” said Dr. Dominic Corva, executive director of the nonprofit Center for the Study of Cannabis and Social Policy. “This is not in anyone’s best interests, certainly not the state’s.”