Policy Boot Camp 2025: Building Power, Knowledge, and Community for the Year Ahead
On Friday, December 12, The Cannabis Alliance will host our virtual Policy Boot Camp. It will be an energizing day built to help our community step confidently into the 2026 legislative session. This event is designed for anyone who wants to understand the lawmaking process more clearly, advocate for their business or community, or contribute to the next decade of strategic, compassionate cannabis reform in Washington State.
When most of us joined the experiment of adult-use cannabis more than ten years ago, we were stepping into something entirely new, something that had quite literally never existed in a regulated form anywhere in the United States. None of us knew that to participate in this marketplace, we would also have to become policy experts.
Today, The Cannabis Alliance has grown into the state’s most effective cannabis policy organization, grounded in collaboration, community knowledge, and a deep commitment to an industry that champions the overall health of the plant in commerce and is dedicated to a vital, ethical, equitable and sustainable cannabis industry. The Policy Boot Camp is our way of making sure no one feels gatekept from participating in the conversations that shape policy. We want to call people in, not keep people out. Your voice, your experience, and your perspective strengthen all of us and are vital to the mission.
Why This Day Matters
This Policy Boot Camp is an opportunity to share everything we’ve learned throughout a decade of advocacy while also preparing for the work ahead. We will cover the fundamentals of how policy is shaped in Olympia and then take deep dives into the specific legislative areas The Cannabis Alliance is championing this year. We are bringing together stakeholders from across and beyond the industry—public health, agriculture, patient communities, workers, sustainability partners, and more—as we build the broad coalitions needed for lasting progress.
Our agenda includes 45-minute focus blocks on the big issues of 2026:
10:45 – 11:30 AM — Welcome and General Legislative Seminar
11:30 AM – 12:15 PM — Patient Access
12:15 – 1:00 PM — Lunch Break
1:00 – 1:45 PM — Municipal Relations
1:45 – 2:30 PM — Cannabis Hospitality
2:30 – 2:45 PM — Break
2:45 – 3:30 PM — Sustainability
3:30 – 4:15 PM — LCB Restructuring
4:15 – 5:00 PM — Strategy Lab Closing Q&A
What We’ve Accomplished Together
As we look back on the last ten years, we do so with tremendous pride in what this community has achieved. Together, we have shaped policy in ways that have fundamentally improved Washington’s cannabis landscape:
Reduced Packaging Waste: Successfully pushed for sustainable packaging rules that minimized waste while maintaining safety and compliance.
Arrest Protection for Patients: Secured legal protections preventing wrongful arrests for medical cannabis activity.
Removal of the Excise Tax for Patients: Helped eliminate the excise tax on medical cannabis, reducing financial barriers for those who rely on it.
Support for Social Equity Programs: Advocated for expanded equity programs, funding, and support for marginalized entrepreneurs.
Vacation of Non-Violent Cannabis Misdemeanors: Supported legislation enabling cannabis misdemeanors to be vacated, helping right the wrongs of prohibition.
Retail Market Integrity: Championed tools to address abusive ownership structures and restore fairness in the regulated market.
Biomass Sales Authorization: Advocated for rule changes that allow legal sale of cannabis biomass, opening sustainable processing pathways.
Low-Dose Beverage Sales Expansion: Supported expanded volume limits for low-THC beverages, improving consumer choice and market viability.
Interstate Commerce Readiness: Backed Washington’s interstate commerce trigger bill, positioning the state for national trade once federal barriers fall.
LCB Enforcement Reform: Played a key role in creating the LCB Education Division and promoting more transparent, fair enforcement.
Blocked Harmful Potency Limits: Successfully prevented restrictive THC caps that would have harmed both consumers and small operators.
None of this was accomplished by any one person or any one organization. It was built by this community. Board leaders, staff, volunteers, members, and allies across the state have all helped shape the thoughtful, forward-looking cannabis policy The Cannabis Alliance is known for accomplishing.
Join Us in Writing the Next Chapter
The Policy Boot Camp is an opportunity to prepare for the work ahead, build a shared understanding, and draw on the knowledge gained over more than a decade of experience in this industry.
Whether you are a licensee, employee, patient, advocate, policymaker, or community partner, your perspective matters—and your participation strengthens this effort.
Let’s come into this session informed, focused, and ready to move forward together.
Join us for Policy Boot Camp on December 12 by registering here.
