They Wanna Limit All Concentrates to 30% THC (HB 1463)
House Bill 1463 was introduced in early 2021, and if passed, it would limit all concentrates and cartridges to 30% THC, and make it so retailers can’t sell these shitty dabs and carts to adults who are younger than 25.
Dispensaries with a medical marijuana endorsement would still be able to sell concentrates with potency greater than 30% to registered medical marijuana patients.
How to Take Action
Check the bill status page to see if the bill is in committee, on the house calendar, or on the senate calendar.
Committee: When the bill is scheduled for a public hearing, go to this page and register to testify remotely or submit a written testimony in opposition to the bill.
House: When the bill is on the House calendar, contact your Representatives and ask them to vote against this bill. Feel free to use the sample email below.
Senate: When the bill is on the Senate calendar, contact your Senators and ask them to vote against this bill. Feel free to use the sample email below.
Share this page with fellow patients & users and encourage them to do the same.
Sample Email
Dear [REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATOR’S NAME],
My name is [YOUR NAME] , a [YOUR CITY] resident and member of Patients and Users for Reasonable Policy. I’m writing to request that you do not pass HB 1463 to limit the potency of cannabis concentrates to 30% THC.
Like most of the other heavy-handed cannabis regulations in Washington, this bill is justified using the Helen Lovejoy defense. On the one hand we can appreciate that this bill is intended to protect the youth, but on the other hand we've seen how this justification has been abused over the years in order to continuously impose nonsensical limitations to Washington's already over-regulated and unimpressive cannabis industry… all at the expense of the cannabis users who willingly consume and purchase these products at a 47.1% tax rate.
In this case the "youth" being discussed are grown adults between the ages of 21 and 24. These adults are old enough to join the military, carry firearms, and purchase liquor. It should not be a controversial statement to say that alcohol and firearms are exponentially more dangerous to young adults than cannabis concentrates, including distillate products with 90% THC.
The very premise of I-502 is that prohibition doesn't work; regulation does. This bill poses as "regulation" but will actually result in the prohibition of most cannabis concentrates. Most cannabis flower caps out at around 30% THC, and concentrates-- by definition-- have a greater concentration of THC than flower does. This means that it would be physically impossible for I-502 processors to produce extracts from the overwhelming majority of commercially available cannabis flower. HB 1463 would disrupt the cannabis industry, put extraction licensees at risk of losing their businesses, and enrage & [further] disenfranchise the consumers en masse all with one careless gesture.
HB 1463 would either outlaw concentrates altogether or encourage producers to use additives. You may recall that the vapor crisis of 2019 was not caused by high potency cannabis concentrates, but by an additive in black market cartridges (vitamin E acetate). The consumers by and large do not want to see additives in their concentrates.
It's really very simple: the more restrictions the legislature places on cannabis products, the more tax-paying citizens will purchase from out-of-state (and/or the black market) instead. If HB 1463 passes, not only would it negatively impact the state's cannabis tax revenue and the overall morale of the industry, but it would result in an explosion of unregulated concentrates and cartridges in Washington's black market.
This bill will create far more problems than it proposes to solve. Let adults make decisions for themselves; whatever one person willingly wants to do with their own body shouldn't be a regulator's business. On behalf of Washington's cannabis users, I implore you to reject HB 1463.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
