A recent ruling by the Washington State Court of Appeals
in Cannabis Action Coalition v. City of Kent has declared
collective medical marijuana gardens illegal because they can
only consist of registered medical marijuana patients and
Washington State has no medical marijuana registry.  Confused?
That’s understandable, some background is in order.  Washington
State has always had a loosely written medical marijuana law.
Passed in 1998, the law does not actually provide any arrest
protections for medical marijuana patients. Unlike any medical
marijuana state but California, there is no statewide registry
of medical marijuana patients. There are no Washington State
medical marijuana cards, only doctor’s recommendations typed on
tamper-proof paper. Washington State defines a fairly standard
set of conditions to qualify for the recommendation, but it
remains only an affirmative defense in court to charges of
possession and/or cultivation -- patients can still be arrested.
Initially, Washington didn’t even define