California’s medical marijuana extractors can rest a little easier, now that Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill AB 2679 into law on September 29. This “exempts collectives and cooperatives that manufacture medical cannabis products from criminal sanctions for manufacturing medical cannabis” until January 2018 when formal regulations take effect.
During this bridging period, extractors must follow stated manufacturing requirements and possess valid local permissions. Assembly Bill AB 2679 describes the two permitted extraction methods as follows (the underlining is ours):
Permitted Medical Marijuana Extraction Methods
“(A) Utilizes only manufacturing processes that are either solvent-less or that employ only nonflammable, nontoxic solvents that are generally recognized as safe pursuant to the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 301 et seq.).
(B) Utilizes only manufacturing processes that use solvents exclusively within a closed-loop system that meets all of the following requirements:
(i) The system uses only solvents that are generally recognized as safe pursuant to the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 301 et seq.).
(ii) The system is designed to recapture and contain solvents during the manufacturing process, and otherwise prevent the off-gassing of solvents into the ambient atmosphere to mitigate the risks of ignition and explosion during the manufacturing process.
(iii) A licensed engineer certifies that the system was commercially manufactured, safe for its intended use, and built to codes of recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices, including, but not limited to, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), or OSHA Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTLs)
(iv)The system has a certification document that contains the signature and stamp of a professional engineer and the serial number of the extraction unit being certified.”
This draws a clear distinction regarding the legal rights of medical marijuana extractors following established methods, and backyard cowboys out for a quick buck. It is an important step towards granting manufacturing licenses, and allows applicants time to get their house in order.
Regulation Hearings Set to Commence
East Bay Express confirms hearings will commence in parallel to allow public participation in framing licensing regulations. Having health and safety procedures defined will also assist informed decisions, when adult use of marijuana goes to ballot this November.
Medical marijuana patients can also begin to breathe easier, now they know quality control is coming to their medicine. “We and our patients are deeply grateful to our leadership in the California legislature for passing this important bill and to the Governor for making it law,’” says Nick Caston of CBD Guild.