Is California the next Ohio?

Discussion in 'Marijuana News' started by dabs710, Dec 21, 2015.

  1. #1 dabs710, Dec 21, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 21, 2015
    http://www.alternet.org/drugs/california-pot-legal...


    The Smoke Has Cleared on the Project to Legalize Marijuana in the Golden State

    Cannabis power players in California have come together.


    By Phillip Smith
    / AlterNet

    December 19, 2015


    After several years of jostling since the defeat of Proposition 19 in
    2010, the smoke has cleared in California and it now appears that a
    single, well-funded marijuana legalization initiative will go before the
    voters next November. That vehicle is the California Control, Tax, and
    Regulate Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA),
    backed by Silicon Valley tech billionaire Sean Parker, WeedMaps head
    Justin Hartfield, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), and a growing cast of state
    and national players.


    AUMU has sucked all the air out of the room for other proposed
    initiatives, most notably the measure from the California Coalition for
    Cannabis Policy Reform (ReformCA), which had been widely assumed to be the effort around which the state's various cannabis factions could coalesce.



    Instead, more than half of the ReformCA board members have now endorsed AUMA,
    including Oaksterdam University founder and Prop 19 organizer Richard
    Lee, California Cannabis Industry Association director Nate Bradley, Law
    Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) head Neill Franklin, Students
    for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) deputy director Stacia Costner, and Dr.
    Bronner's Magic Soap head David Bronner.



    That move came earlier this month, after proponents of AUMA amended
    their initial proposal to provide safeguards against child use and
    protections for workers, small businesses and local governments that
    also bring it closer in line with Newsom's Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy.



    "These amendments reflect a collaborative process of public and expert
    engagement and make an extremely strong measure even stronger,” Donald
    O. Lyman, the measure"s lead proponent said in a statement. "This
    measure now includes even more protections for children, workers, small
    business, and local governments while ensuring strict prohibitions on
    marketing to kids and monopoly practices.”



    "We have carefully
    reviewed amendments submitted by the proponents of the AUMA, and we're
    convinced it's time to endorse that initiative and unite everyone behind
    a single, consensus measure to achieve a legal regulated system, which a
    majority of voters have consistently said they want," Bronner said in a
    statement.


    Here's what AUMA would do:
    Local control.
    Cities and counties can regulate or totally prohibit commercial
    marijuana cultivation, processing, sales, and deliveries, but they can't
    ban deliveries merely passing through their jurisdiction. They can ban
    even personal outdoor grows, but not indoor ones.
    Personal possession. Adults 21 and over can possess up to an ounce or eight grams of concentrate.
    Personal cultivation. Adults can grow up to six plants per household,
    if their localities don't ban personal outdoor grows. Also, landlords
    maintain the right to ban cultivation or even possession on their
    property. Growers can possess all the fruits of their harvest.
    Social consumption. Localities may allow on-site marijuana consumption at designated businesses.
    Public consumption. Not allowed.
    Taxation.
    A 15% excise tax on marijuana products, plus state and local sales
    taxes, plus a $9.25 an ounce cultivation tax on buds and a $2.75 one on
    leaves. Also, counties may impose additional taxes, subject to a popular
    vote.
    Regulation. The state agencies empowered to regulate medical marijuana under this year's three-bill regulation package have their briefs expanded to include non-medical marijuana as well.
    Licensing.
    Provides tiered licensing based on business type and size, but to
    protect small businesses bars the issuance of the largest tier of
    cultivation licenses for five years and creates a special licensing tier
    for "microbusinesses."
    Employee drug testing. Still allowed.
    Criminal offenses.
    Possession of more than an ounce, cultivation of more than six plants,
    unlicensed sales, and possession for sale are all six-month
    misdemeanors, reduced from felonies, although they can still be charged
    as felonies in some cases.


    This past weekend, AUMA picked up the support of Tim Blake, organizer
    of the Emerald Cup in Santa Rosa, which this year drew a record crowd
    to the annual growers' competition/trade show. "I'm going to endorse
    this thing," Blake told activists assembled for a legalization debate.



    His endorsement drew a mixed reaction from the crowd, many of whom want to
    see a more wide open form of legalization. That's a sentiment that's
    shared by some prominent figures in the state's marijuana community.
    Dale Gieringer, a ReformCA board member and longtime head of Cal NORML
    is one of them.



    "This is like 60% legalization," he said. "Some
    people on the board endorsed it, but I didn't endorse, and Cal NORML
    doesn't endorse it
    . We're a consumer organization, and from the
    standpoint of consumers, the AUMA is the worst drafted one," he said,
    ticking off a list of issues.



    "Cities can still ban dispensaries,
    deliveries, and outdoor cultivation
    ," he noted, "and it makes it illegal
    to consume publicly
    . There are a lot of medical marijuana users in San
    Francisco where the only legal place they can smoke is the street. And
    it treats vaping like smoking, which is totally outrageous and
    unjustified in our opinion.



    "These are all major disappointments,"
    he said. "This was an opportunity for California to move ahead of the
    rest of the country, but instead they blew it with excessive language.
    This is 60 pages of text. We'll be looking at years and years of
    litigation
    ."



    That doesn't necessarily mean Cal NORML will oppose it, Gieringer said.
    "If it ends up being the only thing on the ballot in November, I suspect we would support it," he conceded.



    At
    this point, that looks likely to be the case. None of the other
    initiatives are showing any signs that they have the organization or the
    funding to go out and get the 365,000 valid voter signatures needed to
    make the ballot.



    Gieringer also conceded that passage of AUMA would be progress.



    "If it passes, it will do three valuable things," he said. "Adults can grow
    six plants and possess an ounce. Just allowing for personal use is
    extremely important. The AUMA decreases mandatory felony penalties for
    cultivation or possession with intent to sell down to misdemeanors in
    most cases, and that's important. And it establishes a legal marketplace
    for adult use."



    AUMA may not be perfect, but unless Californians
    are willing to go another election cycle or wait for the legislature to
    legalize it, this is most likely what they'll have a chance to vote
    for.
     
  2. ohios legislation sucked, but, wow, not to this level.


    The most alarming part:
    "landlords maintain the right to ban cultivation or even possession on their property."


    Unless you plan to live on the street this effects your livelihood. If you can't smoke in the comfort of your home and in public then how is this legalization?
     


  3. Buy your own place then...after all, plenty of adults do precisely that so they aren't padding someone else's pockets. If you agree to lease a property, then you agree to abide by the rules promulgated by the owner. And just because SOME landlords MIGHT prohibit cultivation or possession does not mean they all are going to do so.


     
  4. Sounds like a good legalization bill to me... The Ohio bill was clearly a monopoly so I don't see how this compares at all honestly. As a New Yorker I'd love to see something like this in my own state
     
  5. not everyone can buy their own place. There are far more apartments than houses so its not like buying a house is easy.


    It's understandable that if you sign a lease you should abide by the landlords rule but the purpose of legalization is to give people the right to do something. Not making the bill applicable to where a person lives makes it a very weak bill.
     
  6. This sounds like shit, a different kind of shit, but still shit.

    Check out legalize ohio 2016

    12 plants/patient
    Max of 24 plants/house if two or more patients live in the same house.

    Unless you're a grower for a "patient group" that allows for 12 mature plants/patient for groups of 2-5

    Allowed 200 grams anywhere outside your house.
    Unlimited in your house as long as you grew it.

    Non medical
    6 mature plants/household max of 12 if two or more adults live in the house.

    Allowed 100 grams and unlimited in your house as long as you grew it.

    You plants cannot be in the eye of the public

    Something I found interesting is that in the bill they label a "social club" as a "commercial Marijuana entity" so I'm thinking cafes maybe?

    But the best part is companies are forbidden from testing medical patients.
     

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