7/21/2011
Kitsap Garden & Lighting’s inventory include fertilizers with names like “Nirvana Bloom,” “Big Bud,” and “Bud Candy,” causing anyone to think that they are for marijuana cultivation.
But according to store owner Miles Nemec, the products are formulated for an assortment of plants. Nemec even takes this message even one step further with a huge sign placed at the front counter of his hydroponic supply store in Bremerton.
The sign says that the fertilizers sold at his store “are not intended for use in manufacturing, processing or distribution of controlled substances, including cannabis.”
State legislation passed recently in effect outlawed medical marijuana dispensaries by restricting the number of clients served to only one person every fifteen days. Nevertheless, the law also allow for collective gardens where up to ten people can grow fifteen plants each or a total of forty-five plants.
According to attorney Scott Snyder of the Seattle-based law firm Ogden Murphy Wallace, the limitations set by the recent legislation could have economic implications to businesses that sell grow lamps, fans, fertilizers and other equipment that are used legitimately for a variety of gardening purposes.
While garden supply stores in Kitsap County could be in for a bump in sales, the owners said that they are not ready to be ganjapreneurs.
In a clarification of its 2009 position, the federal governments again stressed its right to run after licensed growers and dispensaries in states with laws on marijuana growing that allows them. Only large-scale growers whose production of cannabis is for non-medicinal purposes can be targeted by U.S. Attorneys.
