On this In the Weeds Wednesday we wanted to share with you our secret for keeping track of all the things going on behind the scenes in the cannabis industry. Our secret is The Cannabis Observer. They are helping dismantle the prohibition of cannabis by creating outstanding information about cannabis policymaking in Washington state for stakeholders, the public, and policymakers themselves.
They spend their days observing all the meetings they can regarding changes at the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Boards, as well as meetings down in Olympia. This group is instrumental in helping all of us here in the cannabis industry stay up to day on the never ending changes to rules, laws, and regulations being handed down to us.
We are not going to go into detail about a specific subject today because The Cannabis Observer has done such a good job of compiling information on a number of topics. Instead, we encourage you to visit their site, read up on their observations, and catch up on all things cannabis regulation in Washington. If you come away more informed, and we are pretty confident you will, we also encourage you to make a donation to help them continue helping us.
Cannabis Observer creates outstanding information about cannabis policymaking in Washington state for stakeholders, the public, and policymakers themselves. We empower constituents towards better engagement; improve policy evolution and compliance outcomes; and save everyone valuable time and money. In the process, we’ve prototyped a new model for community-supported citizen observation of governing processes which can be applied to any policy vertical at all levels of government.
Governing processes are complex, continuous, and ever-changing. Staying informed costs time and money for governed communities and other stakeholders, and can’t be their primary focus.
Policymakers must devote resources to keep governed communities informed and relationships healthy. Outcomes are improved when well-informed and engaged citizens help direct policy evolution.
Gaps—sometimes quite large—exist between policymakers and citizens. Cannabis Observer fills that gap for cannabis policy in Washington state with dedicated focus which enables us to surface ever more public information into condensed and contextualized content for busy audiences.
Cannabis Observer began by consistently attending every public meeting of the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB), the primary adult-use cannabis regulatory authority in Washington state. Our coverage has expanded to include the Washington State Legislature and other regulatory bodies in the state. We publish on our website and our email list as well as social and community channels.
