Pubdate: Thu, 18 Jun 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248

RULES FOR MEDICAL POT, FINALLY?

California lawmakers are, again, getting close to adopting the 
state's first system to regulate medical marijuana.

Even if they're 20 years late and it's difficult to craft laws for a 
largely lawless industry, legislators must not let another session 
end without passing a comprehensive bill to license and control 
medical marijuana.

The state Senate and Assembly each approved legislation to establish 
a framework for regulating medical cannabis from seed to sale, though 
the versions differ in who will handle the licensing and enforcement 
of the new laws. The Senate bill, SB 643, would create a new Office 
of Medical Marijuana Regulation that would establish rules for the 
industry and issue licenses to people who grow, transport and sell 
cannabis. The Assembly bill, AB 266, would create the Governor's 
Office of Marijuana Regulation to oversee the new regulatory system, 
but the work of licensing and enforcement would be done by several 
state departments with expertise in agriculture, medical products and taxation.

Whichever model the legislators settle on, California needs a 
sensible, workable and enforceable regulatory system.

The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 encouraged state officials to 
implement a plan to regulate safe and affordable distribution of 
marijuana to patients. When lawmakers failed to act, cities and 
counties developed a patchwork of local rules, mostly governing 
dispensaries. But there are virtually no regulations on how marijuana 
is grown or processed, and no consumer protections for a product 
that, ostensibly, is for sick people.

The U.S. Department of Justice has said that California needs to 
properly regulate medical marijuana or the federal government will 
continue to raid and prosecute cannabis operations.

There is still a lot of work to be done. Lawmakers need to merge the 
best aspects of the two bills into one piece of legislation. They'll 
have to decide whether medical marijuana should be organic by 2022, 
as one bill would require, and whether individuals with felony drug 
trafficking convictions should be barred from working in the 
industry, as the other bill proposes.

Other issues that remain open are whether to restrict where marijuana 
can be grown commercially, whether to allow vertically integrated 
cannabis companies and how to find the right balance between 
statewide regulation and local control over individual operations.

Gov. Jerry Brown has stayed on the sidelines in the past, but that 
cannot continue.

He and his appointees will ultimately be responsible for managing and 
overseeing the implementation of these regulations. Brown should be 
involved in legislation, and he should empower state agencies to 
weigh in now and help craft the smartest, most functional system possible.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom