Dozens interested in being state's pot consultant
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - The job description requests an unlikely mix of skills: five years of regulatory experience, with a law degree preferred, and extensive knowledge of all things marijuana.
But that didn't stop dozens of people from turning out Wednesday - in flannel and suits, ponytails and hemp necklaces - to find out more about becoming Washington state's official marijuana consultant.
As officials figure out how to regulate the state's newly legal marijuana, they're hiring an adviser to fill in the gaps of the typical bureaucrat's education: how cannabis is best grown, dried, tested, labeled, packaged, regulated and cooked into brownies.
The Liquor Control Board, the agency charged with developing rules for the marijuana industry, reserved a convention center hall for a state bidding expert to take questions about the position and the hiring process.
"Since it's not unlikely with this audience, would a felony conviction preclude you from this contract?" asked Rose Habib, an analytical chemist from a marijuana testing lab in Missoula, Mont.
The answer: It depends. A pot-related conviction is probably fine, but a "heinous felony," not so much, responded John Farley, a procurement coordinator with the Liquor Control Board.
Washington and Colorado this fall became the first states to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores where adults over 21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis.
Both states are working to develop rules for the emerging pot industry. Up in the air is everything from how many growers and stores there should be, to how the marijuana should be tested to ensure people don't get sick.
Sales are due to begin in Washington state in December.
Washington's Liquor Control Board has a long and "very good" history with licensing and regulation, spokesman Mikhail Carpenter said.
"But there are some technical aspects with marijuana we could use a consultant to help us with," Carpenter said.
The board has advertised for consulting services in four categories. The first is "product and industry knowledge" and requires "at least three years of consulting experience relating to the knowledge of the cannabis industry, including but not limited to product growth, harvesting, packaging, product infusion and product safety."
Other categories cover quality testing, including how to test for levels of THC, the compound that gets marijuana users high; statistical analysis of how much marijuana the state's licensed growers should produce; and the development of regulations, a category that requires a "strong understanding of state, local or federal government processes," with a law degree preferred.
Farley said the state hopes to award a single contract covering all four categories, but if no bidder or team of bidders has expertise in all fields- regulatory law, statistical analysis and pot growing - multiple contracts could be awarded. Or bidders who are strong in one category could team up with those who are strong in another. Bids are due Feb. 15, with the contract awarded in March.
Habib, the chemist, said she's part of a team of marijuana and regulatory experts from Montana who are bidding for the contract. They're fed up with federal raids on medical dispensaries there.
"We want to move here and make it work. We want to be somewhere this is moving forward and being embraced socially," she said.
Khurshid Khoja, a corporate lawyer from San Francisco, wore a suit and sat beside a balding, ponytailed man in a gray sweatshirt - Ed Rosenthal, a co-founder of High Times magazine and a recognized expert on marijuana cultivation. They're on a team bidding for the contract.
"I've seen the effect of regulation of marijuana all my life," Khoja said. "I'd like to see a more rational, scientific approach to it."
Several people asked whether winning the contract, or even subcontracting with the winning bidder, would preclude them from getting state licenses to grow, process or sell cannabis. Farley said yes: It would pose a conflict of interest to have the consultant helping develop the regulations being subject to those rules. But once the contract has expired, they could apply for state marijuana licenses, he said.
After the questions ended, the bidders mingled, exchanging business cards and talking about how they might team up. One Seattle-area marijuana grower, a college student who declined to give his name after noting that a dispensary he worked with had been raided by federal authorities in 2011, approached Rosenthal star-struck.
"It would be my dream to smoke a bowl with you after this," he said.
But that didn't stop dozens of people from turning out Wednesday - in flannel and suits, ponytails and hemp necklaces - to find out more about becoming Washington state's official marijuana consultant.
As officials figure out how to regulate the state's newly legal marijuana, they're hiring an adviser to fill in the gaps of the typical bureaucrat's education: how cannabis is best grown, dried, tested, labeled, packaged, regulated and cooked into brownies.
The Liquor Control Board, the agency charged with developing rules for the marijuana industry, reserved a convention center hall for a state bidding expert to take questions about the position and the hiring process.
"Since it's not unlikely with this audience, would a felony conviction preclude you from this contract?" asked Rose Habib, an analytical chemist from a marijuana testing lab in Missoula, Mont.
The answer: It depends. A pot-related conviction is probably fine, but a "heinous felony," not so much, responded John Farley, a procurement coordinator with the Liquor Control Board.
Washington and Colorado this fall became the first states to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores where adults over 21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis.
Both states are working to develop rules for the emerging pot industry. Up in the air is everything from how many growers and stores there should be, to how the marijuana should be tested to ensure people don't get sick.
Sales are due to begin in Washington state in December.
Washington's Liquor Control Board has a long and "very good" history with licensing and regulation, spokesman Mikhail Carpenter said.
"But there are some technical aspects with marijuana we could use a consultant to help us with," Carpenter said.
The board has advertised for consulting services in four categories. The first is "product and industry knowledge" and requires "at least three years of consulting experience relating to the knowledge of the cannabis industry, including but not limited to product growth, harvesting, packaging, product infusion and product safety."
Other categories cover quality testing, including how to test for levels of THC, the compound that gets marijuana users high; statistical analysis of how much marijuana the state's licensed growers should produce; and the development of regulations, a category that requires a "strong understanding of state, local or federal government processes," with a law degree preferred.
Farley said the state hopes to award a single contract covering all four categories, but if no bidder or team of bidders has expertise in all fields- regulatory law, statistical analysis and pot growing - multiple contracts could be awarded. Or bidders who are strong in one category could team up with those who are strong in another. Bids are due Feb. 15, with the contract awarded in March.
Habib, the chemist, said she's part of a team of marijuana and regulatory experts from Montana who are bidding for the contract. They're fed up with federal raids on medical dispensaries there.
"We want to move here and make it work. We want to be somewhere this is moving forward and being embraced socially," she said.
Khurshid Khoja, a corporate lawyer from San Francisco, wore a suit and sat beside a balding, ponytailed man in a gray sweatshirt - Ed Rosenthal, a co-founder of High Times magazine and a recognized expert on marijuana cultivation. They're on a team bidding for the contract.
"I've seen the effect of regulation of marijuana all my life," Khoja said. "I'd like to see a more rational, scientific approach to it."
Several people asked whether winning the contract, or even subcontracting with the winning bidder, would preclude them from getting state licenses to grow, process or sell cannabis. Farley said yes: It would pose a conflict of interest to have the consultant helping develop the regulations being subject to those rules. But once the contract has expired, they could apply for state marijuana licenses, he said.
After the questions ended, the bidders mingled, exchanging business cards and talking about how they might team up. One Seattle-area marijuana grower, a college student who declined to give his name after noting that a dispensary he worked with had been raided by federal authorities in 2011, approached Rosenthal star-struck.
"It would be my dream to smoke a bowl with you after this," he said.
What we've all come to expect from Washington government...always retro-fitting.
I find the comments about Mr. Rosenthal's appearance disturbing and shallow. Let us take a look at history's serial killers. Most were clean shaven, well dressed etc.Â
So, that being said I'd rather sit and have a bull session with Mr. Rosenthal than say a starched shirt kinda guy.Â
@izwideopen You find the description of his apearance disturbing and shallow because we wouldn't have otherwise noticed he's a balding, ponytailed man in a gray sweatshirt siting next to another man in a suit?
 @izwideopen  Google "serial killers"....images.... for a real eye-opener.
Since we are stuck with this asinine law, before they figure out how to dispense it, they first should figure out how to protect the public from user abuse, since THC stays in the bodyâs system for weeks after the effects have stopped, voiding any possible driver under the influence charge.
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Then we now have to figure out scientifically how much time between toke to steering wheel, as well as how much toking per hour/weight (just like they did for booze), how an Officer is going to be able to legally prove a driver is under the influence AT THE CURB, how to confiscate UNTAXED âhome grownâ (or bootleg) grass, proper ID checking of the current grade and high school smokers (since the authorities havenât been able to stop that yet, this part should be interesting), and probably many more items Iâm not going to waste my time trying to think about.
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I AM going to laugh my stern off when five/ten years down the road, the public is asked to increase their sales tax to help pay for all of these things that proponents said the pot taxes would cover. After all, they got their way â they wonât care anymoreâ¦. The joke will be on us.
 @dome200q Indeed! What a can of worms we have opened. How about second hand pot smoke? Treated like second hand cigaret smoke? They won't care anymore? They don't care now...too mellow to care.
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@Bernard Gui
:-) Whatâs this âweâ stuff? I was extremely busy trying to keep my mark within the no vote block because I was laughing  so hard about where I knew this was going to go â and here we are, and here itâs going â exactly where I thought it wasâ¦.. (beginning to sound like I partake......maybe I should - it'll make things easier when our elected officials try to fix things)
I am just "LOL'ing" at it all...
For all of you who are bashing Ed Rosenthal for the way he looks, you should NEVER judge a book by its cover. He is a genius when it comes to the marijuana industry and this state would be LUCKY to have him on their payroll.
@Tattooed_Angel I understand what you are saying, but if the guy wants to be taken seriously, he needs to dress the part. I'm not saying a tuxedo and wingtips, but at least brush his hair and don't show up in a sweatshirt and jeans.
My dream job...
I nominate Mike McGinn. What a great way to get rid of him.
@Ankle Biter Good idea BUT I think he and the bike rider are holding out for the packaging details...
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I nominate Ed Rosenthal to be the poster child for the "pot doesn't have any negative effects club".
Ok some of you are bashing him for his looks.But look at it from his side.All these people that he had to argue with and what not are now asking for his insight and knowledge of the subject.It really don't matter what you look like.Ed is probably laughing all the way to the bank.
And our tax dollars are paying to rent the space used to draft our state's Chief Pothead?
 @opiniongirl Make no mistake, this expense will be dwarfed by the revenue from pot taxes. If you look at from a purely economic standpoint, the pot legalization is a win.
 @Insomniac Dreams  @opiniongirl Just like the lottery and gasoline tax. We are all winners.
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Watching day by day for the packaging committee ..  I want to apply .. wondering where to put the health warnings .. like they insisted for cigarettes..
People say pot isn't bad for you....Certainly wasn't good for that guy.
Just looking at this losers ugly mug confirms the inevitable dumbing down of America.
@dylandawgie Too bad the only one who is "dumbing down America" is you. Do you even know who Ed Rosenthal is? Probably not. You're just running your mouth about the way he looks. You should never judge a book by its cover.
I know exactly who the moron is. Just because he grows weed and published a silly magazine about it, doesn't make him anybody to look up to. He's the poster child of exactly why one shouldn't consume marijuana. But you can plaster his picture all over your walls and touch yourself if that's what turns you on.
The real talent is still at home sitting on the couch.
 @snowman or under the couch
Bottom line they ALLOWED a law to be put on the ballot...WITH NOTHING IN PLACE TO ENFORCE IT... and now they are making positions that COST more money.................... <BIG SIGH>
 @DISPATCH911 Let the bureaucracy building begin.
 Legal marijuana in Washington State is likely to be too expensive to compete on the national market. Take the black market profit angle out of pot production with home grown law like Colorado. Oh wait, that would make take the state out of the game.
 @al_wa  @DISPATCH911 All the cartels have to do is undercut the state's price, and keep it flowing.
Its not going to work. The state thinks that all they need is 100 growers. Until we get the full backing of the state only an idiot would grow over 100 plants. 100 growers times 100 plants ain't going to come anywhere near enough supply to fill the demand. Still going to be a lot of black market sales until the governor orders the DEA off the growers backs.
Do they offer on the job training?
We need a super-board of subject matter experts: Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Dave Chapelle, Bill Clinton, and, of course, the guy pictured in this article
Don't forget the Biebs.
Job requirement: only those who remember the last thing I said may apply
Well..... it was nice of him to put on his "good" sweatshirt and brush his hair so he would make a good impression at the meeting.....
 @The WA Mama Dressed for success.
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I keep seeing tidbits about the criminal history in these articles. However, pot related crimes really should not be even taken into account. Now felonies related to money crimes, murder, violence, a string of drunken convictions probably should preclude them from from the marijuana licensing. This was voted for by the people so they need to at least put someone in the position that is going to do the work for the people and not the corporations, that would be a bad mix.
 @Bob Wagner Corporations are going to grow and sell marijuana?
Better hurry and FIGURE THIS STUFF out!!
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Isn't this putting the cart before the horse??
This should have been dealt with long before legalizing M Jane!
I see the need for a consultant given the law is unclear and new rules will be written. I think the incumbant needs to be an attorney who is very proficient in legal research. I think he should have a botanist's understanding of marijuana and a good business sense. Felon's need not apply, folks with illegal experience with pot should not apply, current users need not apply. The incumbant needs to be squeeky cleanso he can word off thosw who would wish to compromise him. Since the law went in to effect, I have used pot for pain control, and I would not hire me even though I am as clean as anyone you would likely find.
The photo... is the best part of this article.
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Dude, it's time for that haircut you've been putting off for 70 years.
@Willow and the guy in the background with his ball cap on. this was a "business" meeting - and it wasn't casual Friday !
@Willow At least he put on his good sweatshirt so he could make a good impression! LOL!!
@Willow The picture is not helping the cause (which I am okay with), but man-o-man what a picture selection.
No need to dress up there Ed...your appearance speaks to your qualifications.
Where are Cheech and Chong when you really need them?
Ed Rosenthal would be a good choice. He's been in the industry for decades. He knows most everything there is to know about cannabis.
@Blindman Washington State would be lucky to have him.
Dude looks like George Carlin.Â
 @Bianca Carlin looked better, SPFCCMFT