California’s Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) sounded like a good idea when it arrived. The bill aims to skip right over existing medical marijuana legislation and take a blanket approach to social and medicinal use. To refresh your memory, AUMA’s backers want to:
– Allow adults aged over 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, and
– Cultivate up to six plants on their own properties for personal use
In return, California would, if the bill passed, tax sales at an additional rate of 15% and stand to benefit from a potential $1 billion annual windfall. This is in strong contrast to NORML’s position on medical marijuana. NORML wants the medicine treated as prescription medication, where a physician (and not a lawmaker) decides on the quantity allowed. We have two more problems arising from what AUMA wants to do.
Ow Ma’am! The Devil’s in the Scale
The AUMA bill proposes allowing possession of up to one ounce, and not a gram or bud more presumably. Most retailers I know would prefer to err a fraction on the side of the customer, than sell them short. I have difficulty knowing how cooperatives are going to succeed with the degree of precision only usually required of diamond and gold dealers. And what happens if a dispensary’s scale has a slight under read?
Another difficulty I have is with the penalty. Having less than an ounce of social (or un-prescribed medical) marijuana in your possession is already downgraded to a $100 ticket. Under AUMA, that under-weighing scale could land you in county jail for six months. Six months for a little more herb, I ask you. I agree with OC Weekly. We are literally going backward!
But Will a MMJ Patient Get That Far
AUMA is looking increasingly like a measure that if it passes, could tie the courts up in knots over fractions of an ounce. We have another concern. This is expecting a medical marijuana patient living in one of 300 California municipalities that outlawed medical marijuana, to now be forced to drive up to 200 miles for medication.
Some of these caregivers and patients have seriously epileptic children, or face terminal disease themselves, and rely on the natural, less intrusive treatment medical marijuana provides. And what about our war veterans suffering horribly with depression or PTSD. Have we no pity?
I remain with the conclusion ow ma’am! Legalization is great but there are some downsides. We have to think this through and see what will benefit the most MJ users.