Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Cannabis industry leaders have high hopes that California voters will approve the recreational use of cannabis this November, legalizing the cultivation, sale, and use of cannabis for adults over age 21.
In late June, Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, qualified for the ballot, when backers submitted the 400,000-plus signatures required.
Recent polls indicate that 60 percent of likely voters favor the proposition, which is backed by Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, as well as a wide variety of organizations, including the California Medical Association.
In addition to opposition by many law enforcement groups, activists are divided on the proposal, with many feeling it doesn't go far enough.
When a similar statewide measure was on the ballot six years ago, the state's growers mounted an aggressive campaign to defeat it, and voters ultimately rejected it 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent. This year, the growers have taken a neutral position on Prop 64.
Groups advocating the passage of the measure (Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA): Yes on Prop 64!) as well as defeat (California Stop Pot 2016 - Stop Pot-It is a Trap!) have launched competing campaigns to sway voters.
Four states - Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington - and the District of Columbia have already passed similar laws.
If a majority of voters approve Prop 64, hundreds of detailed restrictions and regulations will be written into state law, making it more expensive to grow and sell cannabis, but bringing safer and higher quality products into the marketplace.
AUMA, a 62-page initiative, would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and cultivate up to six plants for personal use; regulate and tax the production, manufacture, and sale of marijuana for adult use; and rewrite criminal penalties, reducing the most common marijuana felonies to misdemeanors and allow prior offenders to petition for reduced charges.
Currently, only patients with a physician's note are allowed to grow and possess cannabis for medicinal purposes, although anyone with $30 and an internet connection can obtain such a note from dozens of online physicians in less than 30 minutes.
The ballot measure doesn't affect the rights of medical marijuana patients established when Californians passed the Compassionate Use Act in 1996, becoming the first state to do so. Since then, 22 more states have passed similar measures.
In fact, AUMA's regulatory provisions are largely patterned on California's Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which took effect in January after the Legislature approved it last year. AUMA would take effect January 1, 2018.
SF prepares for passage
A lot of how Prop. 64 plays out would depend on how cities and counties react, since they would control what types of, if any, marijuana businesses could operate within their boundaries.
In San Francisco, the Cannabis State Legalization Task Force will be issuing recommendations to the city on local guidelines.
Task force chair Terrance Alan, a gay man who said he became an "accidental activist" when his lover was dying of AIDS and cannabis became a part of his treatment regimen, said approval of Prop 64 would mean improved "safety and consistency" of products in the marketplace.
"As a medical patient myself, I'd like to know that if I purchased a particular strain that when I went back for that same product it would be identical," he said.
New regulations would also require sellers to test products to be certain they are free of pesticides, fungus, and mold.
Alan conceded that such testing would add costs that could be passed along to consumers but over time, the increased supply "should even that out," he said.
Activist Clint Werner, a gay man who is the author of Marijuana Gateway to Health, supports Prop 64 because it is "more good than bad" and a "huge step" forward for the cannabis community.
He believes that if voters approve the measure, "it will change the entire zeitgeist" and law enforcement may feel less need to pursue people for cannabis violations.
AUMA, said Werner, "takes three felonies off the books" immediately.
"That's really an important step," he added.
Debby Goldsberry, executive director of the Magnolia Wellness dispensary in Oakland, said that while AUMA would be a "vast improvement" over the current prohibition, "there are also some big downsides."
Because Prop 64 would still carry legal penalties for possessing over an ounce of cannabis, the community "must be careful that police do not continue to target people of color," said Goldsberry, a straight ally.
Activist Brent Saupe, 50, who has built and operated several large nonprofit cooperative gardens in the city, predicts that passage of AUMA will spark "a gigantic increase in supply" of cannabis. Saupe, previously a member of then-Mayor Newsom's advisory panel on cannabis, said that farmers now have machinery that can harvest and trim acres at a time. In addition, if the law passes, gardeners from all over "will flood the market" in San Francisco.
"Growing," he said, "is getting easier all the time."
J. Erich Pearson, a man who owns San Francisco dispensary SPARC and is a founding board member of the National Cannabis Industry Association, believes marijuana retail prices could "spike" as manufacturers and retailers incur the many extra costs of complying with the law.
"Regulatory compliance is not cheap," he said.
But once the large-scale cultivators and distributors come into the market, "the prices will fall," Pearson added.
Passage of Prop 64 will also lead to increased access, he said. "I am confident that San Francisco's elected officials will understand the demand in this city" and approve regulations that will make it easier for people to open retail stores, he explained.
Based on the work the task force has done in its first several meetings, Pearson is confident that San Francisco will be one of the first cities in the state to have local regulations in place to implement AUMA.
"The city will be ready, I know that," he said.
In an email to the Bay Area Reporter , Wiener, who is running for a state Senate seat this fall, said, "A whole industry is at stake if adult use of cannabis is approved by the voters this fall. There will be a huge need for action around regulation and implementation at the local level so that we create a system that works for both consumers and cannabis businesses. San Francisco and the Bay Area will immediately become a magnet for new business growth, but we need to think long and hard about doing this the right way ...
"There are so many ways legalization of cannabis will impact our city and our residents," Wiener added, "and we need to be sure that this industry, if AUMA is approved, is implemented in an equitable way that also continues to allow for a thriving medical cannabis industry for those who need it."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Bay Area Cannasseur - A Look At What's At Stake Under Prop 64
Author: Sari Staver
Contact: 415.861.5019
Photo Credit: Fotolia
Website: The Bay Area Reporter
In late June, Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, qualified for the ballot, when backers submitted the 400,000-plus signatures required.
Recent polls indicate that 60 percent of likely voters favor the proposition, which is backed by Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, as well as a wide variety of organizations, including the California Medical Association.
In addition to opposition by many law enforcement groups, activists are divided on the proposal, with many feeling it doesn't go far enough.
When a similar statewide measure was on the ballot six years ago, the state's growers mounted an aggressive campaign to defeat it, and voters ultimately rejected it 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent. This year, the growers have taken a neutral position on Prop 64.
Groups advocating the passage of the measure (Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA): Yes on Prop 64!) as well as defeat (California Stop Pot 2016 - Stop Pot-It is a Trap!) have launched competing campaigns to sway voters.
Four states - Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington - and the District of Columbia have already passed similar laws.
If a majority of voters approve Prop 64, hundreds of detailed restrictions and regulations will be written into state law, making it more expensive to grow and sell cannabis, but bringing safer and higher quality products into the marketplace.
AUMA, a 62-page initiative, would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and cultivate up to six plants for personal use; regulate and tax the production, manufacture, and sale of marijuana for adult use; and rewrite criminal penalties, reducing the most common marijuana felonies to misdemeanors and allow prior offenders to petition for reduced charges.
Currently, only patients with a physician's note are allowed to grow and possess cannabis for medicinal purposes, although anyone with $30 and an internet connection can obtain such a note from dozens of online physicians in less than 30 minutes.
The ballot measure doesn't affect the rights of medical marijuana patients established when Californians passed the Compassionate Use Act in 1996, becoming the first state to do so. Since then, 22 more states have passed similar measures.
In fact, AUMA's regulatory provisions are largely patterned on California's Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which took effect in January after the Legislature approved it last year. AUMA would take effect January 1, 2018.
SF prepares for passage
A lot of how Prop. 64 plays out would depend on how cities and counties react, since they would control what types of, if any, marijuana businesses could operate within their boundaries.
In San Francisco, the Cannabis State Legalization Task Force will be issuing recommendations to the city on local guidelines.
Task force chair Terrance Alan, a gay man who said he became an "accidental activist" when his lover was dying of AIDS and cannabis became a part of his treatment regimen, said approval of Prop 64 would mean improved "safety and consistency" of products in the marketplace.
"As a medical patient myself, I'd like to know that if I purchased a particular strain that when I went back for that same product it would be identical," he said.
New regulations would also require sellers to test products to be certain they are free of pesticides, fungus, and mold.
Alan conceded that such testing would add costs that could be passed along to consumers but over time, the increased supply "should even that out," he said.
Activist Clint Werner, a gay man who is the author of Marijuana Gateway to Health, supports Prop 64 because it is "more good than bad" and a "huge step" forward for the cannabis community.
He believes that if voters approve the measure, "it will change the entire zeitgeist" and law enforcement may feel less need to pursue people for cannabis violations.
AUMA, said Werner, "takes three felonies off the books" immediately.
"That's really an important step," he added.
Debby Goldsberry, executive director of the Magnolia Wellness dispensary in Oakland, said that while AUMA would be a "vast improvement" over the current prohibition, "there are also some big downsides."
Because Prop 64 would still carry legal penalties for possessing over an ounce of cannabis, the community "must be careful that police do not continue to target people of color," said Goldsberry, a straight ally.
Activist Brent Saupe, 50, who has built and operated several large nonprofit cooperative gardens in the city, predicts that passage of AUMA will spark "a gigantic increase in supply" of cannabis. Saupe, previously a member of then-Mayor Newsom's advisory panel on cannabis, said that farmers now have machinery that can harvest and trim acres at a time. In addition, if the law passes, gardeners from all over "will flood the market" in San Francisco.
"Growing," he said, "is getting easier all the time."
J. Erich Pearson, a man who owns San Francisco dispensary SPARC and is a founding board member of the National Cannabis Industry Association, believes marijuana retail prices could "spike" as manufacturers and retailers incur the many extra costs of complying with the law.
"Regulatory compliance is not cheap," he said.
But once the large-scale cultivators and distributors come into the market, "the prices will fall," Pearson added.
Passage of Prop 64 will also lead to increased access, he said. "I am confident that San Francisco's elected officials will understand the demand in this city" and approve regulations that will make it easier for people to open retail stores, he explained.
Based on the work the task force has done in its first several meetings, Pearson is confident that San Francisco will be one of the first cities in the state to have local regulations in place to implement AUMA.
"The city will be ready, I know that," he said.
In an email to the Bay Area Reporter , Wiener, who is running for a state Senate seat this fall, said, "A whole industry is at stake if adult use of cannabis is approved by the voters this fall. There will be a huge need for action around regulation and implementation at the local level so that we create a system that works for both consumers and cannabis businesses. San Francisco and the Bay Area will immediately become a magnet for new business growth, but we need to think long and hard about doing this the right way ...
"There are so many ways legalization of cannabis will impact our city and our residents," Wiener added, "and we need to be sure that this industry, if AUMA is approved, is implemented in an equitable way that also continues to allow for a thriving medical cannabis industry for those who need it."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Bay Area Cannasseur - A Look At What's At Stake Under Prop 64
Author: Sari Staver
Contact: 415.861.5019
Photo Credit: Fotolia
Website: The Bay Area Reporter
