http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article9738815.html California cops, cities offer new medical marijuana bill By Jeremy B. White 02/11/2015 10:08 AM With one eye on a looming effort to legalize recreational marijuana in California, organizations representing the state's cities and police officers are pushing a Sacramento-area lawmaker's bill to regulate medical cannabis. Assembly Bill 266, by Assemblyman Ken Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova, would set up a statewide regulatory scheme, but local jurisdictions would continue to have the final word on licensing medical marijuana growers and dispensaries. For years, as legislators offered bills to impose rules on California's teeming medical marijuana industry, law enforcement remained staunchly opposed. The aversion of cops to bills they saw as further legitimizing marijuana helped sway lawmakers to vote no. That changed last year with a bill backed by the California Police Chiefs Association and the League of California Cities. The legislation failed, but now Cooley is carrying a follow-up bill he hopes will conclude what has become a perennial debate. “We keep having Groundhog Day. We keep running these bills and we never get closure on them,†Cooley said in an interview. “I am depending on the cities and the police chiefs to be pursuing a community set of rules they feel works from a law enforcement and a community quality of life perspective.†Both Cooley and the bill's sponsors said it is preferable to create a framework for medical marijuana now rather than risk having the rules determined via a legalization measure on the ballot in 2016. “There is a continuing need to try and enact a regulatory structure that protects local control,†said Tim Cromartie, a lobbyist for the League of California Cities, “as opposed to ‘let's start from scratch and do our own thing.'†Cooley's bill would create a two-tiered system in which the state issues a conditional license, dependent on passing a background test and collecting a fee. Local governments would then have to issue the actual licenses for growers, transporters and dispensaries to operate. It would also set minimum standards for quality of cannabis and mandate testing. “Currently lettuce is more heavily regulated than marijuana, and that is just wrong,†Cromartie said. The bill's supporters emphasize the need to preserve local rules that restrict and even ban the cultivation and sale of cannabis. A separate measure by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, would take a more centralized approach by creating a new marijuana regulation agency within the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. That is the cannabis industry's preferred formula. “We think the patchwork of (local) rules will continue on the same problems we have now, the same confusion we have now,†said Nate Bradley, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Association.
Too bad the next president and everyone in the house is gonna be Republican, there goes all the work that went in to legalization.
Because neither the marijuana activists nor the politicians who set up the marijuana program are experienced business managers, they did not have what it takes to design a marijuana program around a solid, well-planned business model that would have anticipated problems like this. They did not plan for this conflict between various levels of governing authority such as state vs. local and federal vs. state. It is utter chaos now because cities and counties can ban anything the state attempts to foster. It is now going to be harder and more complex to fix these types of problems caused by a total lack of planning. Another 2 examples are the lead-from-behind direction on regulations for consumer safety with regard to edibles and the laughable stupidity of failing to fully understand and address the consequences of the conflict of laws issue between the feds and the state about marijuana which has caused absolute banking chaos. The Washington legislature has gone a step further on its path of utter stupidity by trashing its medicinal marijuana program in favor of a recreational-only program creating immense chaos for both dispensary operators and patients. Fools at the helm instead of seasoned business leaders......
This bill will basicly outlaw all growing on residential. They are trying to set it up just like WA. Mark my words. You all said what is going on in wa would never happen and look now. Counties all across the state are banning growing as well. Yeah legalization. This shit is awesome..... Not. Stop sending people to jail for weed and leave us the fuck alone.
I think that would only happen if Chris Christie or Marco Rubio became our next president. I don't think we even have to worry about Christie, he's polling very low already and a lot of people don't like him. Marco Rubio is the one we really need to worry about.
Where does it say in the bill that it will basically outlaw home cultivation, and does it also have the same ridiculous requirements to get a recommendation through your primary care physician like the last one? I have a bad feeling that this bill is just like the last one where it's basically a backdoor repeal of prop 215.
It talks about zoning. Residential zones will Be banned from growing. I will have to look over it again to find it.
Oh the poor dispensaries and growers....please...I find the current medical systems in CA and WA a joke. I sincerely hope home grows aren't banned in CA but as far as regulating the mmj industry, it's long overdue....
Did you already forget that it was the Republican led House that inserted language prohibiting the DOJ from spending money to pursue violations in MMJ states? The DOJ is somewhat ignoring it, but it was a Republican that sponsored it. You can't immediately lump all Republicans as being against cannabis. Yes you absolutely have the religious right, but you also have the Libertarian wing (which includes me by the way) which believes in smaller government getting out of our lives. This wing is gaining more and more influence in the party every day. Then add in the state's rights crowd and you have a decent portion of the GOP base that would support at the very least state's doing their own thing. And yes, not a big fan of Rubio. Paul would be my first preference, Christie my last.
^^ lol. They didn't prohibit th From enforcing Mmj laws. They said we don't have enough oney to enforce them Big difference. Yet obummer and is boy holder are still going full steam Ahead.
No they didn't prohibit them from enforcing, but they did prohibit them spending 2015 Budget $ from enforcing them. But like I mentioned, the DOJ has ignored the law. But the point of the post was that it was a Republican amendment that at least tried to protect those in legal states. I think some of you would be surprised about how the Libertarian wing of the Republican party thinks. The main reason they aren't progressives or liberals is the spending and government intrusion. They want smaller government that leaves people alone to pursue what ever makes them happy. Within reason of course.
Now I'm all with you on believing a lot of the republicans are okay with marijuana. I'm sure the reason some are against it is because they are puppets and if they say they are for it then they'll loose many republican voters.. My hometown has many friends and family members who are christian republicans and tons of them smoke! My dad goes to church every sunday and is a die hard republican and he smokes everyday (that being said I dont codone christianity or the republican party in any way). All that being said, the republicans want large government,dont let their lies fool you into thinking otherwise.
The more regulations, the less successful ANY of these MJ programs have been. It seems once you give them an inch, they take a mile...
Can't allow us to grow our own medicine. No sir. They need their fat taxe$ and cut$. Can't wait for 30$ / grams for decent nug!
Why I KEEP saying, CA should stay the way it is! But no, too many people keep pushing it. Leave it the fuck alone.
But it's legal. I get to walk into a shop with pretty flashy lights and fun cool hip strain names. What else more could we want.