King County prosecutor cracking down on illegal medical pot shops

SEATTLE -- King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg is in the process of filing paperwork to sue approximately 10 illegal medical marijuana collectives operating without state licenses.

Chris Cody owns Herbal Legends in White Center. He is one of a handful of marijuana collective owners who received a letter from the prosecuting attorney. Collectives will have until the end of 2015 to shut down or face lawsuits.

Cody said, "I just wanted to be a good neighbor. I wanted to show people it wasn’t something to be scared of and that it did have a place in society."

Satterberg says it's time for these places to close their doors.

"A sheriff’s deputy and a liquor cannabis agent could go into one of these green cross stores and take all of the product off the shelf," Satterberg said. "We haven’t gotten there yet but we could."

Satterberg says his goal is to shut the remaining illegal shops down by the end of the year.

The Washington State Liquor and Cannnabis Board estimates that more than 1,000  illegal collectives are operating.