BY MICHAEL HAYNE

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

Did you ever think there we would be a time in America where there would be an open call for a weed consultant and it not refer to the parking lot attendant at a Phish concert? It seems that day of reckoning is upon us.

The otherwise stiff and stodgy halls of Washington State's bureaucratic offices were replete with the aroma of patchouli and hemp necklaces, as Washington State's marijuana connoisseurs lined up to inquire about the consultant position. Eager to figure out how to properly regulate the state's newly legal marijuana and since most bureaucrats aren't famed for their knowledge of herbage, officials are looking to bring on an adviser to fill in those gaps. Like how cannabis is best grown, dried, tested, labeled, packaged, regulated and cooked into brownies. So much for all of those uptight authority figures who never thought potheads would ever amount to anything.

"Since it's not unlikely with this audience, would a felony conviction preclude you from this contract?" asked Rose Habib, an analytical chemist from a marijuana testing lab in Missoula, Mont.

The answer: It depends. A pot-related conviction is probably fine, but a "heinous felony," not so much, responded John Farley, a procurement coordinator with the Liquor Control Board. So unless you bludgeoned someone to death with your bong because you thought they were a giant bird about to attack, simply having a small pot related offense will not disqualify you.

Washington joined Colorado this fall to legalize the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores in which adults over 21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis.