Seattle ( CNN ) -- The crops for sale carry labels like `` dark vader , '' `` uk cheese '' and `` white russian . '' But the overwhelming smell of cannabis gives away the fact that there is really only one item for sale here : medical marijuana . There was little publicity for Seattle 's first medical marijuana farmers market held on Sunday . No posters or signs were hung outside the market 's venue , a small club where `` erotic poetry '' readings are held . Word of mouth alone though packed the hall as hundreds of people lined up to go in . They gained entrance with a recommendation from a health care provider stating that they need marijuana to treat a medical condition . `` I am actually standing upright because of cannabis , there 's nothing else I found that would help me with chronic pain issues , '' said John Muise , a gaunt figure with long dangling dreadlocks . `` I could n't even explain how my life would be if I did n't have cannabis . I would probably be addicted to opiates and in a wheelchair . '' Despite the packed crowds and stands full of marijuana , the farmers market operates in a legal gray zone . `` Medical marijuana is not legal in the state of Washington , '' said state Department of Health spokesman Donn Moyer . A law passed in 1998 allows for what is called the `` medical marijuana defense '' -- that allows for juries to take into account if someone charged with pot possession was taking the drug for health purposes . Under the current law , certain health care providers like doctors or nurse practitioner can issue the recommendations for medical marijuana for a variety of ailments including cancer , HIV and anorexia . But unlike in California or Colorado where medical marijuana initiatives led to an explosion of dispensaries that provide the drug , in Washington the medical marijuana community has remained , for the most part , underground . `` Dispensaries are not legal , co-ops are not legal here , '' Moyer said . `` The intent of the law is that you receive medical marijuana from a designated provider who can only help one patient at one time . Some people are interpreting that as they provide marijuana to someone and then 15 minutes later do it again for another patient . '' `` It 's a city by city , county by county situation right now , '' said Philip Dawdy , a spokesman for the Sunday market and medical marijuana advocate who says there is still `` an old West '' feel to the medical marijuana community in the state . In Seattle , however , medical marijuana users have something of safe haven . A 2003 measure officially pegged arresting people for personal use of marijuana as the lowest priority for the city 's police department . Still fears persist among medical marijuana users . At the market , several attendees asked the handful of news crews present not to take images of them . One couple said they would lose their jobs as teachers if the school where they worked found out they were at the event . `` This could be construed as dealing drugs , '' medical marijuana grower Ken Bell said as a line of customers grew in front of his `` Ken 's Medicine Bowl '' stand . `` We need the state to clarify the gray areas . '' Market organizers said they are hopeful that a bill working its way through Washington 's legislature will provide medical marijuana users and growers in the state surer legal footing to operate on . In the meantime , organizers say they will hold more farmers markets and push for medical marijuana rights -- within limits . `` We do n't want to be anything like California , '' market spokesman Dawdy said . `` They literally have dispensaries on top of each other in Venice Beach and out in the valley . ''
Recommendation from a health care provider not to shop at the farmers market . The market operates in a legal gray zone in the state of Washington . Organizers hope a vote in the state legislature will give medical marijuana a better legal protection .