Provide names of other journalists involved.
Maureen O’Hagan and Jonathan Martin
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
10/7/2012-10/8/2012
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
This two-part project examined the shady corners of Washington’s unregulated medical marijuana industry. “Under the guise of medicine,” the project concluded, “the party has already started.” The stories described the unusual history of Washington’s 14-year experiment with medical marijuana, including the recent emergence of storefront dispensaries and failed attempts to regulate the emerging industry. The resulting “gray market,” the stories found, was a magnet for people with criminal histories or questionable business backgrounds. In fact, one in five marijuana business owners identified by the Seattle Times had a felony arrest record. The stories also reported for the first time the scope of the industry, finding there were more medical marijuana businesses (150) than Starbucks locations in Seattle, yet just 50 medical marijuana businesses statewide paid the required taxes. One storefront reported $2.25 million in gross sales. The stories also detailed self-policing efforts within the medical marijuana industry, including a voluntary set of standards. The second-day story focused on the scant regulations within the marijuana-infused food and beverage market. No state or local agency inspects kitchens used to manufacture these so-called “medibles” products, leading many people within the industry to fear the potential for food-borne illness.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Assessing the scope of the industry required a series of public disclosure requests with the City of Seattle, which maintained an informal list of medical-marijuana businesses, and with the state Department of Revenue, which maintained tax-collection figures. The most difficult reporting task involved determining how many medical marijuana business operators had criminal histories. Three Seattle Times reporters and two Seattle Times news researchers cross-referenced public documents, including telephone, address and voting histories, with criminal records. Due to limitations with the data, our finding — that about one in five medical marijuana business owners had been charged with a felony — was conservative, and did not include criminal records from other states or serious misdemeanor charges. Hundreds of pages of criminal records — state, local and federal — were accessed to assess law enforcement investigations into medical marijuana operations.
Explain types of human sources used.
Two Seattle Times reporters spent about three weeks interviewing dozens of people involved in the medical marijuana industry, visiting dispensaries, “medibles” manufacturers and marijuana-focused testing labs. Federal, state and local officials were interviewed about regulatory efforts, or lack thereof.
Results:
The stories prompted renewed interest in the Washington State Legislature to regulate the medical marijuana industry. The 2013 Legislative session begins in mid-January; in pre-session hearings, lawmakers, including Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, referenced The Seattle Times stories as a reason to enforce standardized licensing of dispensaries and “medibles” manufacturers. A coalition of medical marijuana businesses also formed, and approached lawmakers with suggested legislation to regulate the industry.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No corrections or clarifications were issued. The man in the green gorilla suit in the lead denied providing marijuana to others, despite a reporter standing next to him as he did so. Some advocates for the industry felt the stories were unfairly critical, but did not dispute the accuracy or findings.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Narrowly focus the scope of stories, because medical marijuana has a complicated legal and cultural history. If the intent is to assess the criminal records of business operators, define the threshold and definition of a “hit” early, and provide a shared spreadsheet accessible to multiple reporters.