SPANAWAY — Pierce County sheriff’s deputies have shut down an unlicensed marijuana dispensary that stayed open past a state deadline to close.
The News Tribune reports that Green Organics was doing business within sight of the sheriff’s Parkland Spanaway detachment headquarters, though a new state law required all pot shops to obtain a license or close by July 1.
Deputies arrested the shop’s 33-year-old owner Wednesday for investigation of illegally selling marijuana. They also seized marijuana products and paraphernalia.
Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said the raid could be just the first of several on pot shops that continue to operate without a license in the county. Pierce County mailed notification letters last fall to the owners of medical marijuana stores informing them of the state deadline, which was part of a new state law merging Washington’s recreational and medical marijuana markets.