According to a report by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, the compliance rate for the marijuana industry is considerably higher than other similar industries.
The report found that compliance rates for the marijuana industry was 92% through 2022, which was considerably higher than the liquor (77%), tobacco (80%) and vapor (75%) industries.
These numbers continues a trend, with compliance rates for the marijuana industry being higher than the liquor, tobacco and vapor industry every year since the start of legal marijuana sales in 2014. For example, in 2021 compliance rate for the marijuana industry was 95%. The liquor industry’s compliance rate was 75%, exactly the same as the tobacco industry.
A spokesperson for the Board tell us that although specific numbers haven’t been released for 2023 compliance rates, they are “on par with what we saw in 2022”.
To determine compliance rates the Board conducts premise checks as well as “Compliance Checks to Prevent Youth Access”.
Premise checks “are random, in-person visits to a licensed location by an officer to gauge compliance with rules and offer assistance or education to the licensee or to answer their questions. This unit carries out enforcement operations such as underage compliance checks, undercover operations, complaint investigations, and premises inspections.”
Compliance Checks to Prevent Youth Access “prioritizes preventing youth access to age-restricted products in Washington State. Compliance checks are a specialized check involving an officer and an investigative aide (IA) that is 18-20 years old to test compliance on age-restricted products. This process involves a controlled attempt by the underage IA to purchase regulated products under supervision of an officer who uses a national best-practice model.”
In total in 2022 the Board conducted 27,876 liquor premise checks followed by 4,796 cannabis premise checks, 2835 tobacco premise checks and 2,147 vapor premise checks.
In regards to compliance checks there were 2,997 conducted at liquor stores in 2022, with 1,122 conducted at tobacco and vapor stores and 486 conducted at marijuana retail outlets.
