Apr 24, 2013 | MMJ News
By Carly Schwartz
At The Huffington Post
SAN FRANCISCO — A bill to regulate California’s billion-dollar medical marijuana industry cleared a major hurdle Tuesday when the state assembly’s public safety committee voted to move it forward.
AB 473, introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), would require all pot-related entities, except for caregivers and patients, to follow rules to be created by the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control.
As it stands, medical marijuana in California is “chaos,” Ammiano told The Huffington Post. “It’s never been regulated by the state as any other business. Cities and counties don’t know what to do or what they can do. Police are unsure how to respond, and the federal actions are confusing.”
(more…)
Apr 17, 2013 | MMJ News
Can cities regulate Medical marijuana dispensaries through zoning laws? Listen to Jessica Levinson, Associate clinical professor at Loyola Law School (Los Angeles, CA), describe her thoughts on this issue. This discussion incorporates many aspects of our legal system Federal vs. State (and how local jurisdictions come into play).
Riverside is trying to ban marijuana dispensaries but a group of MMJ activists say “No you don’t” thanks to Proposition 215 (Compassionate Use Act). What are cities options regarding medical marijuana? We have to wait for a court decision from the California Supreme Court. Other medical marijuana states and the Feds will be watching this decision unfold and assess how to move forward.
Apr 16, 2013 | MMJ News
By: Chris Roberts
at S.F. Examiner
California’s medical marijuana industry would be overseen by a Sacramento-level bureaucracy under a reform bill introduced Tuesday by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco.
Similar to how Alcoholic Beverage Control regulates California bars and liquor stores, the Division of Medical Cannabis Regulation would establish statewide standards and applicable fees for how medical cannabis is grown, transported, sold and taxed. The division would be under ABC’s control.
“This is a concrete plan that will keep medical marijuana safe,” Ammiano said in a statement. “We will get it into the right hands and keep it out of the wrong hands.”
(more…)
Mar 13, 2013 | MMJ News
By: Seattle PI
California is ready to follow in Washington’s footsteps, and vote to legalize marijuana and regulate its sale like that of alcohol, according to the Golden State’s authoritative Field Poll.
“Support for legalized marijuana at new high” was the headline for the poll, which showed Californians favoring legalization by a 54-43 percent margin. The Field Poll started asking about pot back in 1969, when only 13 percent favored legalization, despite — or because of — the explosion of hippie culture in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district.
The support for California’s medical marijuana law is even higher — at 72 percent — despite a crackdown by the state’s four U.S. attorneys on the medical marijuana industry. Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed oppose the crackdown, which has included prosecutions and efforts by the feds to confiscate the property of marijuana dispensaries.
(more…)
Jan 30, 2013 | MMJ News
By Peter Hecht
At The Sacramento Bee
Inspired by victorious measures to legalize marijuana in Colorado and Washington, California activists are readying a new ballot push to expand legalization in the Golden State – but not until 2016.
Drug policy groups, pro-legalization lawmakers and other marijuana advocates say they don’t favor holding a California vote on legalizing recreational pot use in 2014, when there will be a smaller electorate than in a presidential year and likely less money and enthusiasm for a pot measure.
“We need to take a breath – because we’re California, and we’re super complicated,” said Amanda Reiman, California policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance.
(more…)
Jan 19, 2013 | MMJ News
By Wes Woods II, Eric Bradley and Rick Orlov Staff Writers
At Daily News Los Angeles
Two medical marijuana cases going before the state Supreme Court could determine whether dispensary bans by dozens of California cities are legal.
The City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patient’s Health and Wellness Center is scheduled to begin Feb. 5 at the University of San Francisco School of Law over the city’s legal authority to ban the dispensaries, which was upheld by an appeals court last year.
In another upcoming case, City of Upland v. G3 Holistic Inc., G3 lawyers are expected to argue that cities can’t ban the dispensaries because they’re allowed under Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, which legally allows doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients.
(more…)
