Jun 13, 2013 | MMJ News
By Staff
A bill that could have regulated medical marijuana regulation in California has failed to pass the State Assembly in a vote late last week.
The legislation, created by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), was aimed to control medical marijuana through California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The oversight would have been similar to what the Colorado Depart of Revenue was doing, tracking the marijuana from where it is grown through to its point of sale.
There is still no clarity and no agency regulating California’s billion dollar marijuana industry. Medical marijuana regulation has been left up to individual municipalities since MMJ was legalized by voters in 1996. Some cities create loose rules while many choose to ban medical marijuana dispensaries entirely.
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Jun 5, 2013 | MMJ News
By Martha Whlte
At NBC News
The pot industry isn’t being cultivated with grow lights behind blacked-out windows anymore. Despite federal drug-enforcement and tax laws that render it illegal — and hard to turn a profit as a mainstream business — the economics of pot are becoming closer to what one advocate dubs “Big Marijuana.”
“It’s been an industry for a long, long time. It’s just been an underground industry,” said Jeffrey A. Miron, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University.
Pot has a trade association, and is planning its third annual lobbying day in Washington, D.C., for this week, signaling that the industry is growing up, said Betty Aldworth, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association.
“The most interesting thing about what’s happening to the marijuana marketplace right now is it’s moving from the underground to essentially being just any other commodity that’s sold in a regulated market,” she said. “So you’re going to see the same kind of business and political functions that happen with any other product.”
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May 22, 2013 | MMJ News
By Patrick McGreevy
At The Los Angeles Times
Medical marijuana dispensaries that abide by security rules in California would not be subject to local or state prosecution for illegal sales under a measure approved Monday by the state Senate.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) proposed the measure to clarify ambiguous laws on medical marijuana, which was approved for legal use in California by voters in 1996. The current law allowing the sale of medical cannabis has resulted in “needless” arrests and prosecutions, he said.
SB 439 says collectives, cooperatives and other business entities can receive reasonable compensation for the services they provide, and will not be prosecuted as long as they comply with security and reporting guidelines drafted by the state Attorney General.
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May 21, 2013 | MMJ News
By Don Thompson
At Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California would take steps to regulate the sale of medical marijuana under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate, restricting cannabis dispensaries that federal prosecutors say have grown out of control.
California voters first supported legalizing marijuana to treat illness in 1996, but federal prosecutors recently cracked down. They said the industry has grown enormously profitable and has made marijuana essentially available for recreational use.
The Senate sent the bill to the Assembly on a 22-12 vote and without any Republican support.
The legislation makes it clear that dispensaries cannot operate at a profit, but that the owners can receive reasonable compensation and reimbursement for expenses.
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May 7, 2013 | MMJ News
By Howard Mintz
At The Mercury News
SAN FRANCISCO — Unless the Legislature intervenes, California will be dotted with a few cities that allow medical marijuana dispensaries but otherwise be ruled by large areas that outlaw the pot businesses.
That appears to be the medical marijuana landscape statewide under a ruling Monday by the California Supreme Court, which settled the latest legal battle over the state’s 17-year-old experiment with medical pot by upholding local governments’ right to ban dispensaries. The unanimous decision leaves intact a growing movement to forbid pot businesses despite a 1996 state law permitting medical use of marijuana.
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May 2, 2013 | MMJ News
By Blake Bunch
Through the Independent Voter Network
This week, the Supreme Court of California is tasked with making a decision regarding the functionality of medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state. The court will hear the case of City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patient’s Health and Wellness Center, which should prove a major catalyst in formulating marijuana regulations.
A new bill, AB 473, introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), aims to formulate concrete legislation to which all counties would adhere.
“We thought it was time to implement some standardization around the regulation of medical marijuana,” Ammiano said. “It will protect patient rights and it will give communities clear guidance.”
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