Pubdate: Thu, 12 Sep 2013
Source: Visalia Times-Delta, The (CA)
Copyright: 2013 The Visalia Times-Delta
Contact: http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2759
Author: Valerie Gibbons

STATE EYES NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULES

Proposal Takes Shape As Part of Last-Minute 'Gut-And-Amend' Of Legislation

County officials are scrambling to oppose a last-minute bill they say 
would decimate local control of medical marijuana.

Debbie Vaughn, administrative analyst, said the proposal would create 
a new state agency to oversee medical marijuana operations and that 
it does little to define who should be growing the plant or how it 
should be sold.

The bill, which originally made it through the Assembly as a proposal 
instituting new rules for eyewitness testimony and photo lineups, 
fell victim to Sacramento's controversial "Gut and Amend" practice - 
where the language of a bill is stripped just before the end of the 
legislative session and replaced with an entirely different proposal.

The bill was sponsored by Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and State 
Senators Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Mark Leno (D-San Francisco).

"It was very much a last-minute effort by the authors to push their 
agenda," Vaughn said. "It doesn't give local jurisdictions the chance 
to respond."

Since the Compassionate Use Act was passed in 1996, the county has 
had rules in place restricting medical marijuana cultivation to 
indoor sites - and in restricted areas. Many cities within the county 
have also set up their own set of regulations, as well.

This proposal would create a separate state entity under the 
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control that would have the 
exclusive power to authorize the manufacture, testing, 
transportation, storage and distribution of the plant.

It would also have the power to set taxes and fees.

"There's no way I can see anyone in local government supporting 
this," said Tulare County Supervisor Phil Cox. "I think it's being 
set up as a revenue generator for the state."

The move comes as the county is in the midst of a crackdown on 
illegal grow sites, particularly the large operations which can have 
as many as 1,000 plants.

Tulare County Supervisor Pete Vander Poel said the bill would hurt 
local efforts to control some of the larger operations, some of which 
have been at the center of violent crime in years past.

"This is not what the people intended," he said. "If this had been 
put through the initiative process that would be one thing, but this 
didn't even go through the legislative process."

The bill's authors state the proposal is intended to have any new 
state agency work with local law enforcement and within each 
jurisdiction's zoning laws.

The state's legislative session ends on Friday.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom