As Vashon’s second recreational marijuana growing company begins to test the lungs of mainland pot shop owners and budtenders (pot shop employees who dispense said bud), the new venture is also adding fuel to the fire of those who call Vashon “Weed Island.”

A quick Google search of the moniker — “weed island” — yields multiple hits for the phrase associated with Vashon Island. From articles in the Seattle Times and Modern Farmer, to a television clip from Seattle’s Fox affiliate, media outlets created the association during a controversial time on Vashon. In March of 2014, Vashon was put on the marijuana map when a Colorado-based marijuana edibles production company showed interest in making the former K2 factory its home. That is when the nickname started popping up.

But months before the Colorado company’s interest was made public, Modern Farmer magazine wrote about “Weed Island” in November of 2013. The article: “Weed Island: Is Washington’s Vashon the Proving Ground for Legal, Local Pot?” drew on the fact that “island lore” suggested that islanders, known for eating locally grown produce and participating in community farmers markets, have applied this focus of local consumption to marijuana since the 1970s.

Some articles also referenced the large majority of islanders who voted in favor of legalization in 2012 (roughly 75 percent) as further reason for the name.

“Not only do we have a supportive agricultural community, but our island has a long history of producing prohibition-era marijuana, so the skill sets are already here,” Shango Los, founder of the Vashon Island Marijuana Entrepreneurs Alliance said in an August 2014 Seattle Times article.

While Vashon’s unincorporated and rural nature has allowed agriculture, including marijuana cultivation, to thrive, Vashon still has no recreational pot shops, despite many neighboring islands boasting shops.

There are multiple retail pot shops throughout the San Juan Islands and a high-end one on Bainbridge Island, begging the question: Why have no other islands been given the moniker? With the lack of shops or any sort of marijuana-related infrastructure, the identity is not necessarily an accurate description of the island and was born out of the media attention that surrounded Vashon in 2014.

Vashon’s weed culture being referenced in the media grew out of the rural lifestyle and pervasive counter culture beliefs of many who choose to live here, but “Weed Island” is an identity given to the island primarily by area marijuana activists familiar with Vashon’s agricultural history.