New Washington Bills Would Legalize Home Marijuana Cultivation And Allow Producers To Sell Cannabis Directly To Consumers

A pair of new bills introduced in Washington State this week would make changes to existing marijuana laws, permitting producers to sell flower directly to consumers and allowing home cannabis cultivation by adults for personal use.

Both bills are set to be heard in committee next week.

HB 1449, from Rep. Shelley Kloba (D), would allow adults aged 21 and older to grow up to six cannabis plants at home for personal use, with households capped at 15 plants regardless of how many adults reside on the premises. People could also lawfully keep the marijuana produced by those plants despite the state’s existing one-ounce limit on possession.

The measure will be considered on Tuesday by the House Consumer Protection and Business Committee.

If enacted, it would be a Class 3 civil infraction if the cannabis plants or products were within public view or could be “readily smelled” from a public place or another private housing unit.

Currently it’s a felony in Washington State for adults to grow their own cannabis unless they’re state-registered medical marijuana patients.

Kloba has repeatedly sponsored cannabis homegrow legislation in recent years, but each time the proposal has fallen short. A similar effort last year died in committee without getting a vote.

Legislative efforts to allow personal marijuana cultivation stretch back to at least 2015, but so far each has failed.

The Cannabis Alliance, a trade group representing a range of marijuana and ancillary businesses, believes this year could be different. Executive Director Caitlein Ryan said in an email to Marijuana Moment that the group “is optimistic that this year’s home grow bill has a stronger chance of passing than previous attempts.”

“With 21 states and D.C. already embracing homegrow, it’s clear this is no longer an experiment but a proven norm,” Ryan said. “The bill reflects nearly a decade of refinement, broad stakeholder input, and growing legislative support, as evidenced by its significant number of co-sponsors.”

She added that push from some industry members has weakened in recent years, “with licensees recognizing that homegrow enhances appreciation for their offerings rather than competing with them,” and that opposition testimony in general has been “dwindling each year.”

While some state groups, such as the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention “remain opposed,” Ryan continued, “the changing makeup of committees, new leadership, and a broader coalition of supporters—including recognition from the Governor’s Cannabis and Social Equity Workgroup—make this the most promising environment yet for passing homegrow legislation.”

As of Friday, HB 1449 has 15 listed co-sponsors in addition to Kloba herself.

Last February, after the failure of Kloba’s previous homegrow bill, the lawmaker said she was undeterred and was already planning the next bill.

“I am committed to this issue, and plan to run a bill again next session,” Kloba told Marijuana Moment at the time. “Every session has its own character and constraints, which so far have meant that the bill has not advanced to the Senate. But I am not giving up.”

Despite being among the first states to legalize marijuana for adult use, in 2012, Washington is one of the few legal states where it remains a crime for adults to grow a cannabis plant for their own use.

John Kingsbury, co-founder of advocacy group Homegrow Washington, said he’s “all in” on the bill.

“Certainly Washington being at the back of this one, with home growing becoming the norm, and with legislators and community leaders becoming more aware of the impacts, the pro tent has become larger,” he said in an email, adding that licensed businesses have also “come to realize that home [growing] may likely enhance the appreciation and value of what they provide, rather than competing with it.”

Another new bill being considered by lawmakers this session, SB 5403, would allow cannabis producers to sell up to 1,000 pounds of marijuana per year directly to consumers, without having to go through a licensed retail store. It’s set to go before the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee on Monday.

Micah Sherman, operations director and owner of cannabis grower Raven and a board member of the Washington Sun and Craft Growers Association, said he’s been pushing for direct-to-consumers sales for years. In his eyes, it’s a way to support small-scale, craft cannabis without upsetting the existing market.

As introduced, the measure from Sen. Rebecca Saldaña (D) would allow licensed cannabis producers to sell their own marijuana flower directly to consumers. Products would need to be produced and processed at the licensee’s own location, and state cannabis regulators could set further rules and restrictions.

Sales would be taxed at the same 37 percent rate that applies to other consumer cannabis transactions.

One likely change, said Sherman, who worked with Saldaña and legislative staff to draft the new bill, is that the bill will be amended to allow licensees to sell only up to 1,000 pounds of cannabis per year to consumers. That, he explained, is meant to limit the proposal’s impact on existing retailers and encourage craft growers to focus on premium products.

“Wanting to have a viable business ecosystem where you can buy quality flower grown by people who care about what they’re doing,” Sherman said, “that’s what this bill is about preserving.”

He urged supporters to sign up to give public comment on the bill at Monday’s hearing.

Back again, 8th year working on this. Cannabis farmers need a direct path to consumers for cannabis legalization to succeed. It's an essential component.

If you're in Washington and want this policy please get in touch with your #waleg rep and let them know. pic.twitter.com/XVinutbVgT

— Micah Sherman (@shermanmicah) January 21, 2025

Currently, Sherman said, small cannabis farmers are stuck in an unsustainable business model. Because the state bans vertical integration, they are reliant on other licensed retailers to carry their products.

As the state’s adult-use marijuana market has matured, “the opportunity to buy a lot of quality products, grown by good businesses, has lessened,” he asserted. “A lot of those people have gone out of business and are going to continue to go out of business if something like this isn’t implemented.”

Sherman said his own company, Raven, “is not a viable business enterprise,” adding that “this is true of most small cannabis farms in the state, because we’re all hanging on, waiting for there to be some sort of change to the system that we operate in.”

He described the change as complementary to the state’s existing marijuana market, saying it would help better educate consumers and potentially shrink the illicit market.

“Our claim is that this has always been an additive concept and that we’re going to bring business in that currently isn’t participating in the legal, regulated market,” he said. “We all know that there’s a core group of cannabis consumers that will not participate in the dispensary model.”

“Until the legal, regulated system acknowledges that and lets that be a relationship that exists,” Sherman continued, “we’re never going to have those people participate.”

Direct-to-consumer sales are already allowed in some jurisdictions, especially among small, so-called microbusinesses. And lawmakers in some states, like California and New York, have similarly moved to allow producers to sell to directly consumers.

Last month, for example, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed a bill into law to revive the state’s expired Cannabis Growers Showcase program, through which producers can sell products directly to consumers at farmers market-style events.

In California, however, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last year vetoed a lawmaker-approved bill that would have allowed small growers to sell their products to consumers at state-organized farmers markets.

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Newsom said in a veto message at the time that while he appreciated “the author’s intent to support small and equity cannabis cultivators,” he was “concerned that the bill’s broad eligibility, which extends to the vast majority of licensed cultivators, would undermine the existing retail licensing framework and place significant strain on the Department of Cannabis Control’s ability to regulate and enforce compliance.”

Meanwhile, as the new legislative session kicks off in Washington State, some lawmakers are renewing a push to legalize psilocybin services through a bill that would create a regulated psychedelics system aimed at promoting mental health and wellness.

The measure, SB 5201, led by Sen. Jesse Salomon (D) along with eight cosponsors, is a revised version of legislation he filed in 2023 that would have legalized psilocybin and psilocin—the two main psychoactive chemicals in psychedelic mushrooms—in a fashion similar to existing laws in Oregon and Colorado. It would allow adults 21 and older to legally use the substances with the support of a trained facilitator, with product manufacturers, service centers and testing labs licensed by the state.

Outside the legislature, organizers in Washington are separately working to put a measure on the state’s ballot that would legalize a number of plant- and fungi-based psychedelics for personal use, including psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline and DMT.

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