Adam Lind, a longtime front-end retail manager at a well-known Whidbey pharmacy, may be getting into the marijuana business.

Lind confirmed rumors this week that he is hoping to open a medicinal dispensary, or access point, on Scott Street in Freeland. While the details are still being hammered out, Lind said he and an unnamed business partner are extremely close to a deal and could open a store in as soon as two weeks.

“We’re looking at a Dec. 15 opening,” Lind said.

“I’m 99 percent there,” he added.

Lind declined to delve into too many specifics, saying he wanted to wait until the new store is a certainty. He did say, however, that if the store becomes a reality it won’t be related to the family business.

Lind’s father is Ron Lind, owner of Linds Jewelry and Linds Pharmacy which has stores in Freeland and Coupeville. Adam Lind has managed the Central Whidbey branch for years.

“There’s zero relationship with Linds Pharmacy,” Adam Lind said.

Incidentally, the Linds are in the process of brokering a deal to sell the pharmacy side of the business to a national chain. Ron Lind could not be reached for comment by press time Wednesday concerning the status of the deal.

Adam Lind’s new access point would be Freeland’s second dispensary. Island Alternative Medicine on Vanbarr Place has been open for a couple of years, and is the only medicinal marijuana store on South Whidbey.

Owner Lucas Jushinski isn’t worried about the prospects of new competition, saying he’s confident the quality of his inventory and the “comfortable” atmosphere of his store would keep him successful, but this is a risky time to be getting into the business, he said.

The state Legislature is expected to look at several bills this year that could radically change the way medical dispensaries are regulated. Based on some previous proposals considered in the 2014 session, Jushinski worries that new laws may effectively close the door on the medicinal side of the industry altogether.

Access points predate Initiative 502, which legalized recreational use in Washington in 2012, but they don’t operate under the same rules. In fact, they have very little oversight at all, according to Brian Smith, spokesman for the state Liquor Control Board.

“One is tightly regulated, and one’s not regulated at all,” Smith said.

With the passage of I-502, the state agency was tasked with coming up with rules to manage the newborn recreational industry. Highly restrictive, they provide the framework for how producers, processors and retailers operate. Access points, however, aren’t covered and remain a regulatory Wild West.

The issue has come to a head, particularly in Western Washington communities such as Seattle, where officials are cracking down on more than 300 stores that are unlicensed businesses. The exact number of dispensaries in the state remains unknown, but businesses with green crosses over doorways continue to pop up.

“If I open my window I throw a baseball and hit three of them,” Smith said.

Aside from being unregulated, access points are criticized for several issues. One of the chief complaints is their lack of taxation. The recreational side of the industry — producers, processors and retailers — are required to hand over 25 percent of gross earnings to the state, but dispensaries have no such obligation. And because they can operate without the same permitting and financial burdens, they are blamed for out-pricing recreational retailers that are encumbered by state regulations.

“They [recreational] are competing with people who aren’t paying taxes and following the rules regulating the retail market,” Smith said.

According to Jushinski, the taxation argument has two sides. Some access point owners refuse to pay taxes because they view marijuana solely as a medicine, and medicine is exempt from taxation in Washington, he said. But, while there is very little information about the known access points in the state, Jushinski maintains such objectors represent a select few.

“The majority of us do pay [state] sales taxes,” he said.

Those are regular business taxes, and are much less than those posed on recreational business.

Jushinski also noted that the state’s rules do drive up the cost of recreational marijuana, which he says is two to three times that of cannabis sold at dispensaries. If the state’s rules change and the entire industry comes under a single set of regulations, as was proposed by the Legislature in the 2014 session, he worries how it will impact the sick who rely on dispensaries. For access points that can get one of a limited number of permits in certain areas, they will see prices go up and, based on the current recreational guidelines, staff would be prohibited from providing advice to patients on the medicinal use of marijuana, he said.

“In the end, it’s the patients who suffer,” Jushinski said.

He added that he believes dispensaries do need some kind of regulation and oversight, but that lumping them in with recreational businesses isn’t the solution. Such changes don’t make sense and might result in greater reliance on the black market, he said.

Maureen Cooke, owner of Whidbey Island Cannabis Company, disagrees that recreational costs are so disproportionate, saying she is now selling grams for as little as $14. Supply problems drove up price tags initially, but suppliers have recognized the unsustainability of an over-expensive market and lowered prices, she said. In fact, she boldly speculated that illegal sales will disappear altogether within one year.

“I would say by the end of 2015, the black market will be gone,” Cooke said.

While not all might agree with such a forecast, Smith said it’s widely expected that change is in the wind for dispensaries, as several bills may be introduced by lawmakers in January.

Whether they mirror proposals discussed this year, or are totally different, is difficult to predict.

“What the Legislature ultimately does, well we’ll just have to wait and see,” he said.

As for Adam Lind and his plan to open a dispensary in Freeland, he acknowledged it isn’t the best time to be getting into the business.

“It’s a big risk, a big jump to take,” he said.

Lind has “been interested” in the industry for some time, however, and is now in the position to give it a try and ready to take his chances.

According to David Wechner, director of Island County Planning and Community Development, because access points are currently in a regulatory “no-man’s land,” Lind’s business would be treated as any business and likely require only an occupancy permit and a change of use permit in a commercially zoned building.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect title for Adam Lind. He is a front-end retail manager for Linds Pharmacy in Coupeville.