MMJ: New laws for Cali cannabis culture

The legislature finally took action on comprehensive statewide medical cannabis regulations. Your thoughts? - Medical Matt

Last week, the California legislature pretty much kicked everyone out of the room and created a set of regulations. They posted the new bill shortly after 2pm Friday and voted their approval at around midnight. Since the governor’s office was heavily involved in drafting the bill, it is expected that Gov. Jerry Brown will sign it into law. I haven’t really had a chance to read super deep into the fine print, but, I think it will be OK.

These new laws will give authority over medical cannabis regulations to a variety of groups. Public Health is involved, Fish and Wildlife and the Agriculture Department all get to come up with more rules for water use, farm operations, yadda yadda. People will have to buy a permit or a license from the state and the city they do business in. This will be tough for some people because cities and counties can still ban dispensaries or production. My understanding is that non-commercial medical growing has been left untouched, but that all commercial growing will be tightly controlled. Fortunately, there will be a variety of licenses and permits available (small grower, large farm, cannabis processor, edibles manufacturer, etc). My hope is the fees won’t be so expensive that they keep some cannabis cultivators underground. Apparently, there will be background checks. Hopefully, the state won’t let a criminal conviction for a cannabis-related “crime” keep dedicated advocates out of this newly regulated industry.

We are still winning. We – meaning all the activists and advocates and rabble rousers – have been asking for medical cannabis regulation for years.

This is what it looks like. It may not be perfect (yet), but this is a big giant step forward. Now, some folks are gonna be upset and get all deep in their feels because their outlaw days are damn near over. We are going to have to go legit, and some may not be able to do it. I just hope we can remember to keep our counter cultural vibes and spirit intact as we journey into this new world of rules and legitimacy. And as always, if you don’t like this law, find a cannabis legalization initiative you like, and work like hell to get it on the ballot.

The coming 2016 is gonna be a monster year for cannabis law reform.