Washington Seeks to Give Away Marijuana Locks Boxes to Users

Legislation is working its way through Washington State that would allow medical and recreational marijuana dispensaries to give away lock boxes for free. This is to help prevent children from accessing high-THC containing products. The lock boxes are available online for sale, but one lawmaker wants to go a step further.

Representative Dan Griffey wants to let retail marijuana shops give the boxes away – free, according to Q13 Fox News. It is important for parents to keep edibles and high-THC containing products away from children, but they may not know that these lock boxes even exist. The Mason Country Department of Health received a donation of lock boxes.

The Department wanted to hand them out for free themselves, but Washington State law prevents freebies from being handed out at marijuana shops. Representative Griffey wants to change that.

Dr. Erica Liebelt of the Washington Poison Center said, “In 2016, we saw an increase in the number of calls to the poison center regarding marijuana exposure.”

Dr. Liebelt also said, “If there are young children in the home and it’s not properly stored in a safe place then there’s always potential for small children to be able to get into it.”

Representative Griffey said, “Let’s do anything we can to keep our kids safe.”

Griffey also said, in regards to the Department of Health wanting to distribute the boxes for free, that, “They were not allowed to hand anything out for free, even if it was a safety device. So we narrowly crafted this bill to say you can hand these out for free.”

Recreational marijuana shop owner Tedd Wetherbee would be happy to give these lock boxes away for free, if it were made possible to do so.

Wetherbee said, “Really if you’re a responsible person, they’re never going to fall into the hands of your kids. You keep medication out of the hands of your children, you keep alcohol out of the hands of your children, and you keep pointy objects out of the hands of your children. It’s all about where you are as a patient.”

The bill is gaining ground as it has passed the House. It is awaiting a second hearing in the Senate.