Once the leading marijuana store in Jefferson County, Greg Brotherton’s Sea Change Cannabis is now barely out of last place
Brotherton is running for Jefferson County Commissioner on his record as a successful entrepreneur. He used early profits from his marijuana business to fund opening of his Discovery Bay grocery store, the Disco Bay Detour taproom and a small recording business.
At his Sea Change Cannabis website, Brotherton states that his pot shop has “assisted in the success” of these other businesses. He has claimed that his co-dependent businesses employ as many as thirty people, although that number has varied by as much as 33% in different statements.
Brotherton in 2017 was named Young Professional of the Year by the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce.
The cash cow that has been supporting his non-pot businesses and fueling his reputation as a successful businessman may be running dry.
Brotherton’s remarkable success early in the pot store’s life seems to have been due to the fact he faced little to no competition and was able to charge high mark-ups. Now that other retailers have opened, Sea Change Cannabis is on a marked downward slope in gross revenue. He has posted a drop of more than $100,000 a month in revenue since his peak in August 2015.
Meanwhile, his competitor across the street, Discovery Bay Cannabis, is enjoying steady revenue growth and passed a declining Sea Change Cannabis in monthly sales a little over a year ago. Sea Change Cannabis is now barely out of last place among pot shops in Jefferson County in month-to-month sales.
The June 2018 gross numbers show it can’t be easy going. According to 502 Data, a private company that tracks the marijuana industry, Brotherton’s pot shop earned just over $42,403. That seems a truly impressive sum until you consider that $15,689 off the top went to the State of Washington in marijuana taxes. That leaves less than $26,714 to cover inventory, payroll, and everything else.
How close to the edge is Brotherton operating? He may be operating in the red.
According to Marijuana Business Daily, retail markups at Washington marijuana retailers have dropped dramatically as the state’s taxing structure went to a 37% point-of-sale tax and competition intensified. Retail markups hit about 3.1x in the Spring of 2015 and had fallen to 2.1x. in November 2016, the most recent data we could find. That is about when Brotherton’s pot revenues went off that cliff.
If that 2.1% markup is accurate, for Brotherton to have generated $42,203 in gross sales, his inventory cost would have been over $20,000. After paying those marijuana state taxes, that leaves only $6,700 to cover payroll for five employees, insurance, other state and local taxes, electricity, phone and internet, advertising, rent and the 24/7 video and alarm security he is required to maintain under state law.
The numbers don’t work for Brotherton. His website identifies five employees in the pot shop (he said six during the primary race). At a campaign debate, Brotherton said he pays all employees at least minimum wage. Managers make much more. Calculating wage rates for his pot shop’s employees at $15 per hour, his monthly payroll comes to $12,000, significantly more than the $6,700 he would have brought in. And he still has not paid employee health insurance premiums required by Obamacare.
Then there are federal taxes. Because Brotherton’s business is illegal under federal law, he cannot claim the same deductions as retailers who don’t sell (federally) illegal drugs. See 26 US Code Sec. 280E (prohibiting deduction of expenditures to generate income from illegal drug businesses). Besides the cost of goods sold, none of what he spent to generate that $42,403 in gross revenue is deductible; the remainder is fully taxable. But from where does he get the money to cover a significant federal tax bill when he’s already coming up short?
These are calculations based on mostly hard numbers Brotherton can’t escape. He would not answer any of our questions in researching this article. But a crime at his business has given us a pretty good idea of the tenuous financial health of his once comfortably successful enterprises.
After his sales had crashed his pot shop was burglarized and its inventory stolen. The theft of just $10,000 of inventory, he said, threatened not only the existence of Sea Change Cannabis, but also of the other businesses subsidized by pot sales. According to The Port Townsend Leader, Brotherton said it could be difficult to retain employees in all the businesses.
“There’s a perception that folks in our line of business are swimming in cash,” Brotherton said. “The fact is that we’ve already had to borrow money just to keep the chain open.”
His monthly revenues have continued to drop as competition and the costs of doing business have increased. At the same time, retail prices–and the mark up a retailer can expect–have cratered due to oversupply.
Which may explain why he is seeking another full-time job as a Jefferson County Commissioner on top of what would be full-time jobs running his pot shop, tap room and grocery store.
The annual salary of a county commissioner is $79,518, plus health insurance for the commissioner and their family and other benefits.
[This report was edited since publication to correct a misstatement of federal tax deductions and link to a report on falling Washington marijuana crop and retail prices].
2012 was the year I moved to Port Townsend from Tacoma. While I immediately loved this place, our proximity to nature and the beach, I found myself having difficulty relating to people in my new home town.
It wasn’t that I felt anyone gave off a negative vibe. Most of the people I met in my Uptown neighborhood just seemed like they were worlds apart from my own. I tried volunteering at the Wooden Boat Festival, Film Festival, etc. I spent some time at the Uptown Pub. While I had a good time, I never met anyone I connected with.
I grew up in Federal Way. The people I’d known there and later in Tacoma were, you might say, a bit rougher, grittier, more down-to-earth than the people I was meeting in Port Townsend.
Perhaps strange, I began to feel most comfortable at the Penny Saver, often late at night. Many folks coming in late in the evening were dirty, just ending a long day of work at the boat yard, mill or other blue-collar job. I’d built my own automotive businesses. I knew the dignity and joys of getting dirty in work you love. I found it easy to strike up conversations with this side of Port Townsend.
Many of the homeless would come in during the later hours. I was honestly more comfortable talking to the homeless than pretty much anyone at the Co-op and the parties I’d attended since landing here.
I’d been through plenty of highs and lows in life by this time. I’d never been homeless myself, but it was easy for me to relate to these people. I enjoyed listening to their stories. We had shared experiences. I’ve seen things they’ve gone through and I was really at ease around them.
Over the years, I have gotten to know many of the homeless, mostly those who are “from here.” I’ve gotten to know their stories. They’ve shared their struggles and triumphs.
I’ve seen things that bothered me: the people who come out of Penny Saver with a six-pack of beer and give a can or bottle to a homeless person leaning against the wall. Or the teenagers who pay homeless person to go in and buy beer for them.
In all the time I’ve spent with this town’s street people, I have only had a couple uncomfortable experiences. A homeless alcoholic man threatened me and stuck his head and hands in my car through the window. He said, “You better watch you back and hope you have good insurance on your car.” I immediately stepped out of my vehicle and confronted him. He backed down and apologized. The cause for his anger: I refused to give him cash for the sandwich he said he wanted and instead offered to buy him one. I had known any cash in his hands would only be used to get him drunk.
Another time, I found a bicycle in the middle of the road behind McDonalds. This was late at night. The homeless hang out back there in Kah Tai Park or in the landscaping around the parking lot. I got out of my car to move the bike to the sidewalk and someone I couldn’t see started throwing rocks at me. I calmly but loudly shouted, “If this is your bike, please, I was just moving it out of the road.” Instead my car and my person continued to be pelted with rocks.
Each week I will be telling a story about someone who is or has been homeless that I have come to know. I hope my personal experiences can open up the minds of our readers and tie in these experiences to our past article by our anonymous contributor entitled, “Knowing the Homeless.”
It is my intention that by putting a face on the homeless, being realistic about who they are, their problems, and the dangers and problems they pose for the rest of us, my writing might help us have a better informed discussion about things such as a homeless shelter, the increased crime attributed to transients, and the impacts of the homeless on our public resources. We can’t start to address the problem of homelessness unless we know who these people are.
Initiative 1639 is not the only threat to your Second Amendment rights on the November 6 ballot. The Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners is joining the effort to keep you from exercising your constitutional rights. The voters’ decision on who should fill the open District 3 seat on the Commission now looms large in the future of gun rights in Jefferson County.
I-1639 is the initiative that would invade your medical privacy if you buy a handgun or semi-automatic rifle; collect enough data to populate a federally-prohibited registry of gun owners; and subject lawful gun owners to prosecution if their gun is stolen and used in a crime, among other affronts to your liberties.
What Jefferson county commissioners are doing is more subtle and reflects an emerging tactic among anti-Second Amendment government bodies. Politicians in most jurisdictions know that being honest about wanting to take away people’s guns and their right to use them is a recipe for political disaster. To work around this inconvenient truth, liberal politicians manipulate the regulatory process by writing laws designed to chip away at your gun rights.
The mechanism for this is a new ordinance to re-write existing county laws pertaining to shooting ranges. Judging by the language of the ordinance, it would appear the new and onerous regulations contained in this 38-page dictum are designed for one thing: to make it too expensive and too burdensome to operate a shooting range in Jefferson County.
This ordinance creates new, complex and costly barriers to exercising rights under the Second Amendment. Commissioner David Sullivan claims the ordinance is, “based on health and safety issues that have been cited at gun facilities,” the largest and best known being the range operated by the Jefferson County Sportsmen Association.
But a careful read of the ordinance betrays the motives of Sullivan and others. Modeled after a similar piece of anti-gun legislation in Kitsap County, the draft language for Jefferson County explicitly states that, “Kitsap County has passed a commercial shooting facility ordinance that withstood legal challenge.” In other words, they think they found a way to limit your gun rights and get away with it.
The ordinance also attempts to indict the Sportsmen Association and the range it has operated for more than half a century. It reads, “bullets striking a residence on November 22, 2017 near the commercial shooting facility located at 112 Gun Club Rd., Port Townsend, WA 98368 on land owned by Jefferson County but operated by Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association called to question the safety of commercial shooting facilities.”
The deceit is revealed by the ordinance eventually acknowledging the truth that, “it was ultimately determined the damage was likely not caused by the shooting facility operated by Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association.” The entire ordinance is based on a false premise.
The Sportsmen Association is not run by One-Percenters who fund anti-gun agitators from their offices in New York. It’s about 1,100 individuals and families who pay annual dues that are lower than my monthly PUD bill. By all accounts, this group of private citizens has been a good neighbor over the past 52 years, and operates its facility in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. But the new bureaucracy, permitting demands, inspections and surveying requirements of the ordinance aren’t cheap. We’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars that groups like the Sportsmen Association simply do not have.
Meanwhile, a lot of complaints are from people who moved near the range after it opened in the early 1960s and now gripe about hearing guns. It’s like wanting to shut down the Port Townsend mill because you bought a house near it and it smells funny when the wind blows the wrong way.
This is how liberal government works. They create new law that could put a shooting range out of business. This means law abiding gun owners of Jefferson County are denied the best and biggest facility of its kind on the peninsula. Combine this loss of a long-established range with the raft of “no shooting” zones ordered by the ordinance, and people are left with virtually no nearby place to legally practice and improve their gun safety skills. Your ability to lawfully exercise your constitutional rights is diminished.
The current board wants an incremental stealth form of gun control. What will the future 2019 Board of Commissioners do? The November 6 election to fill Kathleen Kler’s open seat will determine whether Jefferson County is governed by commissioners who are unanimously opposed to your constitutional rights. Democrat Greg Brotherton has already indicated he doesn’t want to be a disruptor on the board, so he cannot be counted upon to support your Second Amendment rights. He also just happens to be the candidate recruited by the other commissioners. Republican Jon Cooke is more independent and open-minded on the issue.
So the question is, who do you trust to defend your right to keep and bear arms? Put another way, who do you trust not to use their powers as county commissioner to undermine your Second Amendment rights?
This new law isn’t a done deal yet. A public hearing on the ordinance is set for October 1 and it’s a good bet that plenty of anti-Second Amendment agitators will be bused-in to the courthouse for the 6:30 pm hearing. For people who believe the Bill of Rights actually means something in Jefferson County, this is probably their last best chance to speak up.
A game camera is triggered by motion at 3 a.m. A black Dodge pickup truck is photographed leaving a meth compound in Sequim. The pic goes up on the Facebook page of Tweek Watch Olympic Peninsula where it is seen by over 2,500 people.
This truck and unidentified driver was caught leaving a major meth compound in Sequim at 3am on our game cam. If this truck is near your property they are likely on the prowl. The people living at the compound are involved in a major drug – theft syndicate in Clallam County! Beware!
Someone comments there are three identical trucks in Sequim. Possibilities are narrowed down. The truck is spotted at Lincoln Park in Port Angeles. It doesn’t take long to rule that one out. Someone wants to know where the meth compound is located and the page administrator provides not only the intersection but a photo. People weigh in. They’ve seen the traffic and stolen property collected out there. But who owns this particular truck? Suggestions pour in, are evaluated. Finally, the community settled on the meth truck being regularly seen outside a particular tattoo stop.
Virtual vigilantes? One commenter says “Call the cops…Starting vigilante sh#t could get you killed.”
The discussion rolls on, undeterred.
A “tweeker,” if you didn’t know, is a meth addict. The term frequently encompasses heroin and other drug addicts, as it does in the case of this Facebook page.
We could not find out who runs Tweek Watch. We were in communication with the administrator who initially agreed to answer questions but then the dialogue stopped. We succeeded in locating people who know the identity of the administrator. They say this person does not want to be publicly identified because of the potential for retaliation from users and dealers.
We understand. Who would want to be outed for standing up to the crime associated with meth and heroin addiction on the Olympic Peninsula? In one post the administrator stated that the tweekers had already found the site. “Ban button wearing thin! Have a nice weekend was the response,” along with an expletive thrown at the tweekers who might be reading his post.
While readers of The Port Townsend Leaderobjected to naming arrestees in police reports, and the editor capitulated, the Tweek Watch community delights in posting photos and names of people they believe are engaged in criminal activity. They post photos of RVs engaged in allegedly selling drugs on Port Angeles streets. Someone posted having just seen a drug deal on Frost Road at the PUD gate. Photographs of persons accused of theft by a member of the community are posted, with full names. Photos of recently stolen vehicles are posted with a request to speak up if they are seen. A Port Townsend man posts a photo with the message, “If you see this car in the hood, you are about to get robbed. PM me for details.”
Stash of hypodermic needles with location posted on Tweek Watch
We started watching this site months ago and have seen its following grow steadily. What does law enforcement think? We asked a Jefferson County deputy who hadn’t know about the site. He thought it was a great idea and joined the page. Police are reading the comments. They are part of the community.
Tweek Watch posted this on its “About” page: “Meth and heroin thieves are victimizing too many good people on the Peninsula! It’s time to fight back! This page is to shed light on the tweeks.”
Not fearful of being sued, Tweek Watch also posts photos very clearly identifying homes and commercial properties as places where drugs are sold and used, or where tweekers reside and gather. The administrator uses far saltier language to describe the locations and people there.
Some of the posts are followed with news that the wanted person had been arrested. Police have raided some of the locations. There’s no way of knowing if pressure from Tweek Watch motivated and informed police, or if information from police found its way to the site.
One thing is clear: The Tweek Watch community knows quite a few of the miscreants and dodgy properties. The anger about the situation is obvious, as is the determination to do precisely what the site set out to do: fight back by dragging this activity and these people into the light.
This is not the only social media crime fighting effort. In Seattle, the Next Door social media site has increasingly been used to share information about dangerous and criminal transients. It has been reported to us that the Next Door network in Port Townsend is also engaging in rapid responses to drug crimes.
“When seconds count, the police are only minutes away,” the saying goes. On-line crime fighting can bring the speed and sweep of the Internet to the battle.
With legalization of marijuana came regulations to protect against underage use and consumer deception. A marijuana licensee agrees to follow these regulations as a condition of the privilege of producing and selling the product.
The rules are not difficult to follow.
Yet Sea Change Cannabis and its owner, Greg Brotherton, seem to have a hard time with the rules. Nonetheless, Brotherton wants power and authority over other businesses and individuals to ensure they comply with laws and regulations, and to impose new regulations on their conduct and lives.
He is seeking election to represent District 3 on the Jefferson County Commission. In that position he would oversee land use and business regulations, law enforcement budgets and policy, and, by virtue of having a seat on the Public Health Board, budgets, staffing and policy to educate the public about the health risks of marijuana and teen prevention programs.
County Commissioners also have the power to require retailers to provide accurate and complete information on the health risks of marijuana…if they choose to exercise those powers.
There is no question Jefferson County already has a serious problem with teen use of marijuana, as we wrote in an earlier report [click here to read]. It was getting better before legalization then teen use climbed and has stayed high–higher in Jefferson County than our neighboring counties or the state as a whole.
We also previously reported how Brotherton is contributing to that problem with his efforts to spread the acceptance and encourage the use of marijuana, while also minimizing its serious health risks. He has written. produced and starred in a video series showing him getting high and buying black market marijuana. That is him at the top of this story. To read that report, just click here.
Brotherton’s candidacy is unprecedented. This is the first time that someone who earns their income primarily from selling marijuana has sought public office in Jefferson County. His candidacy may be a test case for future campaigns by others in the marijuana business and signal increasing control and influence by the pot industry in government. (Port Townsend City Councilor Michelle Sandoval’s husband and son are licensed marijuana growers. She was already in public office when her family became engaged in the pot business and her real estate companies appear to be her primary source of income).
Our visit to Brotheron’s business in the course of researching that earlier report alerted us to what appeared to be irregularities on a number of fronts. Information on the health risks of the marijuana sold by Brotherton’s store could not be located by the clerk on duty. That clerk also participated in trying to persuade this reporter that smoking marijuana improved breathing and insisted that marijuana had no health risks whatsoever.
Other irregularities we noted pertained to the signs and promotional materials for Brotherton’s Sea Change Cannabis.
We provided Mr. Brotherton with a detailed description of all the violations we think we found, with citations to specific state laws and regulations. He said he would not answer questions about potential violations. But he and his staff “take compliance seriously,” and “welcome the regulation and enforcement efforts of the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board.”
Accordingly, we have forwarded our detailed list of potential violations to the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board. The full complaint is reproduced at the end of this report, where the specific state law and regulatory citations may be found. What follows is a summary of the issues in the complaint.
Appealing to Youth and Illegal Signage
“A licensee may not take any action, directly or indirectly, to target youth in the advertising or promotion of marijuana products or take any action the primary purpose of which is to initiate the incidence of youth use of marijuana or marijuana products.” This prohibition is repeated several ways in state law, LCB regulations and LCB advisories.
Licensees are limited to two outdoor signs of specific size that can only be displayed upon their business property.
Brotherton seems to have ignored these rules. This is a photo of the sign over his 101 Center/Discovery Bay Village Store. It advertises cannabis off the premises of Sea Change Cannabis, the licensed retailer. These separate businesses are not licensed marijuana retailers and may not advertise marijuana.
Discovery Bay Store
The sign also appears to target youth. It advertises marijuana for sale on the same terms as an “all ages theater” and “groceries.” Marijuana retail establishments are not permitted to sell groceries or provide youth entertainment. Marijuana retail establishments may also not offer alcohol for sale.
Because this is not a permitted on-premises sign, Brotherton is required to include the following statement:
“This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming.Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children.”
He failed to do that.
The cannabis advertisement is almost directly above the all ages theater. That is explicitly prohibited.
Appealing to Youth via Online Promotional Material
Sea Change Cannabis published to YouTube and at its website a film series entitled, “Verde Noir.” As we previously reported, Brotherton wrote, produced and stars in the film, as actor and narrator. He is depicted getting high and negotiating what would be an illegal marijuana transaction—purchasing marijuana from unlicensed individuals—and going so far as counting out his money.
The Washington LCB strictly prohibits the use of movie or cartoonish characters as they are likely to appeal to kids. Brotherton’s film uses such characters is several places to make the production, use and regulation of marijuana lighthearted and silly.
The story line is also designed to appeal to youth. The film opens with a grown man happily recounting his adventures as a teenage grower who went into business with his mother and made a lot of money–illegally. There is a later scene of another man getting high in his car before going into his mother’s house to ask her for money to start a pot growing business. Marijuana smoking is portrayed throughout as a regular, normal daily activity, in all sorts of circumstances, without consequences or risks.
We contend the film series is explicitly designed to make marijuana use more acceptable to a broader audience, including youth.
Prohibited Therapeutic Claims
On its website and in its Verde Noir videos Sea Change Cannabis makes several claims about marijuana’s curative and therapeutic effects. Claims are made that marijuana use can treat fatigue, insomnia and seizure disorders caused by brain trauma. A woman identified as “Nurse Wendy” makes the claim that she witnessed immediate curative and therapeutic results from smoking marijuana.
“Nurse Wendy”
This is explicitly prohibited by regulation.
A Need for Strict Enforcement
Teen marijuana use in Washington has risen since legalization. Teen use in Jefferson County has risen above those higher statewide averages. It was dropping sharply until the advent of legalization, then climbed back up and above prior levels. With the black market all but gone, kids apparently are using the highly potent marijuana coming out of licensed retail shops.
Brotherton’s business states at the door that persons under 21 are not allowed on the premises. When we entered the store, which was crowded at the time, there was no one checking i.d.s.
UPDATE: We checked Brotherton’s violation history and his business has twice received notices related to the deficiencies we saw. In February 2017 Sea Change Cannabis received from the LCB an administrative violation notice for serving a minor and another for permitting a minor in a prohibited area.
Before publishing this report we examined the websites and visited the premises of several local marijuana retailers. We did not find anything to give us reason to contact the Washington LCB.
We cannot give you Brotherton’s explanation for what we have found. He has provided only a politician’s canned and evasive response.
We will let the proper authorities decide. The closest enforcement agent is in Tacoma. It is unknown how well the LCB monitors the marijuana industry here. We shall see.
The following is our complaint to the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board.
The Complaint
The 101 Center Cannabis Sign Targets Youth and is Otherwise Illegal
The 101 Center is not a licensed marijuana retailer, yet it is advertising cannabis on its marquee. The 101 Center is owned and managed by Greg Brotherton, the same person who owns Sea Change Cannabis, a licensed marijuana retail business operating out of another building.
The center’s very large sign advertises “Groceries…Espresso…All Ages Theater…Taproom…Cannabis.” The 101 Center is in the nature of a small shopping center that offers a grocery store, espresso bar, beer bar and performance space, an all ages theater and a marijuana retailer set aside at some distance from the other buildings. The marijuana retailer is Sea Change Cannabis. Neither the 101 Center nor the Discovery Bay Village Store are licensed marijuana retailers.
The cannabis sign on the 101 Center/Discovery Bay Village Store violates Washington state law and regulations in several respects:
It advertises cannabis on the property of a business that is not a licensed marijuana retailer.
It attempts to make cannabis appealing and acceptable to children by including cannabis on a sign advertising an all ages theater and groceries. A licensee may not take any action, directly or indirectly, to target youth in the advertising or promotion of marijuana products or take any action the primary purpose of which is to initiate the incidence of youth use of marijuana or marijuana products. RCW 69.50.369(6)(A); WAC 314-55-155(1)(a)(iv)(A) & (B).
It is a prohibited off-premises sign for the Sea Change Cannabis store that already has its maximum two on-premises signs. RCW 69.50.369(2); WAC 314-55-155(2)(a).
Because it is not outdoor advertising permitted under subsection (2) of WAC 314-55-155(2)(f), it is required to include the following language, which the sign does not contain:
“This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming.”
“Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug.”
“For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children.”
See WAC 314-55-155(2)(f)(6).
It fails to state anywhere that marijuana products may be purchased or possessed only by persons twenty-one years of age or older. RCW 69.50.369; WAC 314-55-155(1)(c).
The sign is erected almost directly overhead a recreation facility (all ages theater), not restricted to persons over the age of twenty-one. RCW 69.50.369(1); WAC 314-55-155(1)(b)(i).
It is prohibited outdoor advertising on the premises of a shopping mall. WAC 314-55-155(2)(c).
Sea Change Cannabis Advertising Illegally Represents That The Use Of Marijuana Has Curative Or Therapeutic Effects
On its website, Sea Change Cannabis represents that marijuana has curative or therapeutic effets. On the “About” page Sea Change cannabis quotes “Molly,” identified as assistant manager, in stating, that she is “able to use cannabis recreationally and safely treat ourselves for minor medical issues like fatigue, insomnia, pain or nausea.”
;On its website Sea Change Cannabis has posted a movie written, produced and starring its owner, Greg Brotherton. In episode four of the movie, the curative and therapeutic benefits of marijuana use are explicitly represented through the statements of a man who says he has seizure disorders he successfully treats with marijuana and a “nurse Wendy” who says she saw the immediate therapeutic results of marijuana use. The film can be viewed at this website: http://www.seachangecanna.biz/verde-noir/
These actions violate WAC-314-55-155.2.c.
Sea Change Cannabis Has Published a YouTube Film Promoting Marijuana and Appealing to Youth
The Verde Noir film series is part of Sea Change Cannabis’ advertising and promotion of marijuana. It is promoted prominently at the business’ website and was uploaded without age restriction by Sea Change Cannabis to YouTube in four segments:
The entire series is also linked off YouTube to the Sea Change Cannabis site and bypasses the pro forma self-enforced age restriction if one logs onto the Sea Change Cannabis site.
The videos were uploaded to YouTube by Sea Change Cannabis on January 31, 2017, at a time when Sea Change Cannabis was a licensed marijuana retailer. The logo on the YouTube post for “Sea Change” is the same logo on the Sea Change Cannabis outdoor business sign (see attached photos). The Sea Change Cannabis logo and a subscription button appears at the end of every segment that takes one to other marijuana films uploaded, without age restriction, by Sea Change Cannabis.
Episode 1 appeals directly to teenagers not only to use but to grow and sell marijuana illegally. It stars a man telling what is supposed to be a humorous story about his mother catching him with marijuana plants and destroying them, then entering into the business of illegally growing marijuana with her fourteen-year old son. (The Sea Change Cannabis website also includes the “testimony” of one of his employees about his marijuana use going back to his teenage years).
Throughout the film, movie and cartoonish characters are employed in a humorous manner to make the growing, production, use and marketing of marijuana lighthearted and silly. This violates WAC 314-55-155(1)(a)(iv)(A) & (B).
In episode 3, a man gets high in his car before entering his mother’s house to ask her for money to start a marijuana business. The smoking of marijuana is filmed in all of the segments, at all times of day, in a variety of circumstances and surroundings. Of course, smoking marijuana is made to look like a lot of fun.
No effort was made by Sea Change Cannabis to exclude underage viewers from viewing its films promoting marijuana use. Indeed, by putting them on YouTube, Sea Change Cannabis invited underage viewers and intentionally opened its film with a story resonating with underage viewers—a fourteen-year old boy illegally growing marijuana with his mother and having fun. Not a single word of discouragement to underage users is uttered throughout the film, nor is there stated or published any of the precautionary language required by Washington State Law on marijuana promotional materials. Under WAC 314-55-155(6) except for outdoor advertising, “all advertising must contain the following warnings that must be in type size at least ten percent of the largest type used in advertisement: (a) ‘This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming.”; (b) ‘Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug.’: (c) ‘There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product.’: and (d) ‘For use only by adults twenty-one and older. Keep out of the reach of children.”
The films are clearly advertising and promotional notices for the business and products of Sea Change Cannabis. The YouTube description of the films provided by Sea Change Cannabis states:
“Sea Change Cannabis is one of the first recreational Washington dispensaries. Marijuana in Washington has a long and dark history. We cut our teeth growing marijuana in the black market and the gray market of medical marijuana. But in legalizing marijuana, Washington State has changed what growing weed means. This web series is our contribution to the conversation. Verde Noir explores the latest cannabis news, explores cannabis effects and the cannabis plant itself. We explore weed strains, including our beloved Chemdawg. We want to combine weed information with weed humor. We want to go beyond just making funny weed videos and pretty weed pictures, to really share how the weed laws in Washington affect us. As there are more states with legal weed, marijuana laws continue to evolve. We have marijuana for sale in the store, but we want to help explain the effects of marijuana on the brain, and what it is like to smoke weed. There is a long history of stoner movies, but they also continue to evolve. We believe the best stoner movies include some adult humor, yes, and also some pretty weed pictures – but they will include some stoner music and preferably a little weed cartoon. We have all of that, plus documentary interviews of marijuana growers, a lobbyist, the occasional weed cartoon, and lots of weed smoke (people have to get high). We like to get stoned and play music, so there is a lot of live music in our videos as well. Cannabis is a funny weed, for sure, and it brings out the humor in more and more legal weed states. Washington marijuana law sets precedents for other states as the sea change spreads across the nation. Marijuana growing has always been part of our culture, but as portrayed in stoner comedies, is filled with stoners and straights. We want to show the variety of experience people have with cannabis and the latest marijuana news.”
As a licensed retailer, Sea Change Cannabis is not permitted to publish such advertisements without following Washington state law and regulations regarding mandatory warnings and screening out youth.
