On July 1, Washington merged the recreational and medical marijuana markets.

The merger focuses on regulating Washington’s unregulated collective.  As a result of the merger, State Governor Jay Inslee passed the Cannabis Patients Protections Act (CPPA).

The CPPA requires medical marijuana stores to join the state-approved and regulated system that retail marijuana follows by July 1, 2016.

The CPPA will have an optional medical patient database. Patients who sign up don’t have to pay sales tax and can purchase larger quantities of weed, as reported by Zac Hereth, former Observer sports editor.

To get a medical card, patients need to both get a prescription from a doctor and register with the Washington Department of Health.  

After that, they can go to a weed dispensary to fill out some paper work, get their picture taken and receive their medical card.

“It’s essentially like handing out ASB cards,” said Brittany Choyce, who owns the Green Shelf.

While the store has it’s medical endorsement, Choyce doesn’t have a timeline on when they’ll be selling medicinal inventory.

“None of my suppliers have offered any medical inventory options,” Choyce said.

On top of the lack of supply, patients already get a 10 percent discount off the receipt total with evidence of a prescription. Green Shelf has provided discounts at the register from day one, Choyce said.

Ellensburg’s third recreational weed shop, The Fire House, started serving medical patients this past week.

“We wanna accommodate all facets of the industry and all consumer types,” said Ryan Bean, owner and operator of The Fire House.

Bean got his start in the medical marijuana industry in Olympia, managing a chain of collectives. “The medical side is great because you get to see how many people with ailments and cancers it was helping,” Bean said.

Washington is moving away from the wild west days of unregulated medical collectives. One of the biggest changes to the medicinal system is the standardization and testing of medicinal products.

“It needs to be consumable grade and healthy for the consumer. Especially if you have a terminal illness or you have seizures, it needs to be clean,” Bean said.

Increased competition is driving the recreational price down, which may impact the number of people who keep renewing their medical license.

“The market is dropping so it’s not as beneficial to receive a medical deal, because the prices are already down to the black market,” Bean said.