Since its founding in 2014, the Washington CannaBusiness Association has been committed to a collaborative, professional advocacy approach in advancing its members' legislative and regulatory policy priorities. Listed below is an archive of state advocacy priorities with the exception of critical ad hoc efforts that have arisen since the inception of the legal cannabis marketplace. Examples of these ad hoc efforts include advocacy on packaging-and-labeling rule-making and public safety concerns regarding vaping products sold on the illicit market, among others.

2024 Legislative Agenda and Regulatory Agenda

2023 Legislative Agenda and Regulatory Agenda

2022 Legislative Agenda and Regulatory Agenda

2021 Legislative Agenda and Regulatory Agenda

2020 Legislative Agenda and Regulatory Agenda

2019 Legislative Agenda

2018 Legislative Agenda and Regulatory Agenda

2017 Legislative Agenda and Regulatory Agenda

2016 Legislative Agenda and Regulatory Agenda

2015 Legislative Agenda and Regulatory Agenda

The fact that systemic racism in public policymaking has gone unaddressed is evident across all aspects of our society. Identifying and eliminating inequity where it exists in public policy is late to occur, and new awareness of the unintended consequences of not explicitly prioritizing anti-racist policies is not an excuse for further delay. This is true of cannabis in Washington. The establishment of a fully regulated cannabis industry in Washington has been a bumpy road, whether it is in the rulemaking for the initial licensing process or broader and ongoing policymaking. The structure outlined in Initiative 502 to prevent a flood of cannabis businesses may have been well-intentioned, but the multiple rounds of allocation – from a lottery, to a prioritization method for existing medical cannabis businesses, including a market study indicating how many licenses were appropriate for Washington – strained a new system that did not take social inequity into account. To read more about WACA's advocacy (including a position paper on social equity published by its membership in January 2021, please CLICK HERE.

WACA is regularly asked about its membership's position on allowing for the private cultivation of cannabis for all adults in Washington. Currently, the private cultivation of cannabis is restricted solely to registered patients. WACA's membership is neutral on this issue. For more information, we encourage you to read an article by a WACA past president, published in January 2019.