SEATTLE — More than a decade after Washington pioneered the legalization of recreational marijuana in the United States, sales of the product still violate federal law, even in the Evergreen State's local pot shops.
But many industry leaders are hoping a new move this week by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) will ease the Washington cannabis industry’s burdens.
"Anything we can do to lower the cost of running business, is just better in general," said Pot Shop Seattle's manager Pablo, who preferred not to share his last name.
He said the promise of a marijuana classification shift has him hopeful.
"I think this is just step one," he said.
Pot shop operators are hoping the DEA will follow through on their budding plans to move cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug.
"To understand what the DEA did, you have to look at what is scheduling," said Neil Juneja, a cannabis attorney in Washington. Juneja sat down with KING 5 on Saturday to provide his insight.
Under the DEA's Controlled Substances Act, there are five schedules of drugs listed by order of potential for abuse.
"Schedule I has no accepted medical value and a high likelihood of abuse," explained Juneja.
That is where cannabis currently lives. However, the DEA has announced it will move to reclassify it.
"We're talking about moving this to Schedule III," said Juneja.
Meantime, in Washington's pot shops, the tax system is burdensome, said Pablo.
"Essentially what we’re looking forward to is being able to have like lower taxes on everything, that can trickle down into all business needs," said Pablo.
Right now, business deductions are off the table for all Schedule I drugs.
"Upon rescheduling Schedule III, there'll be deductions that are allowed for things such as putting up a billboard, doing marketing, hiring employees that other businesses have. That is too expensive for cannabis shops to have. So it's good for both the employee the employment base, as well as the employer," said Juneja.
The consumer will pay less, according to Juneja.
"If there are not new tax codes that are put into place, we could see a 20% to 30% drop theoretically," said Juneja.
But it's a more sobering reality when it comes to accepted form of payment; because marijuana is still federally illegal, pot shops can’t have contracts with credit card companies.
Could this new momentum further relax federal rules?
"It's safety, I mean, everyone living around here knows that it’s not safe being cash-only as a business,” said Pablo.
Still, only time will tell.
"It'd be great if it could eventually make its way towards full legalization," said Pablo. "So that the feds can just stay out of it.”
The DEA's proposal still has to be examined by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
If it takes effect, it will be the agency's most significant change in policy in upwards of 50 years.