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Tulare County supervisors voted Tuesday to oppose a bill that would regulate medical marijuana statewide because of fears the regulations could limit local control of marijuana dispensaries and grow sites.
Supervisors voted unanimously to send a letter to state Senators urging that the bill be killed.
AB 2312, by Assembly Member Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, would require commercial marijuana growers to register with a new Board of Medical Marijuana Enforcement, and counties and cities could tax marijuana if local voters agree.
Additionally, the bill calls for one dispensary for every 50,000 people.
Late last month, Ammiano's bill squeaked through the Assembly 41-30, one more vote than needed. It is now in the state Senate.
To date, supervisors in Fresno and Kern counties have not weighed in on the issue.
Ammiano's bill potentially endangers the lives of people who live near medical marijuana grow sites by giving cover to "criminal operations," Tulare County board Chairman Allen Ishida said.
"One-third of the homicides last year in Tulare County were related to growing marijuana," Ishida said. Eight people died in 2011 in medical marijuana-related incidents, the county said in its letter to state Senators.
Local authorities are concerned about a provision that seems to bar local law enforcement from working with federal authorities on combatting illegal marijuana cultivation, Ishida said. And the bill tries to evade federal law that bans growing and possessing marijuana, he said.
In 1996, California voters approved the Compassionate Use Act legalizing marijuana for medical uses. Ammiano has said his bill would create "an effective regulatory framework" for the law.
The bill was amended in the Assembly so local governments could ban dispensaries as long as patients and caregivers can still get medical marijuana.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: fresnobee.com
Author: Lewis Griswold
Contact: fresnobee.com - Help
Website: Tulare County supervisors oppose medical marijuana bill - Local - fresnobee.com
Supervisors voted unanimously to send a letter to state Senators urging that the bill be killed.
AB 2312, by Assembly Member Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, would require commercial marijuana growers to register with a new Board of Medical Marijuana Enforcement, and counties and cities could tax marijuana if local voters agree.
Additionally, the bill calls for one dispensary for every 50,000 people.
Late last month, Ammiano's bill squeaked through the Assembly 41-30, one more vote than needed. It is now in the state Senate.
To date, supervisors in Fresno and Kern counties have not weighed in on the issue.
Ammiano's bill potentially endangers the lives of people who live near medical marijuana grow sites by giving cover to "criminal operations," Tulare County board Chairman Allen Ishida said.
"One-third of the homicides last year in Tulare County were related to growing marijuana," Ishida said. Eight people died in 2011 in medical marijuana-related incidents, the county said in its letter to state Senators.
Local authorities are concerned about a provision that seems to bar local law enforcement from working with federal authorities on combatting illegal marijuana cultivation, Ishida said. And the bill tries to evade federal law that bans growing and possessing marijuana, he said.
In 1996, California voters approved the Compassionate Use Act legalizing marijuana for medical uses. Ammiano has said his bill would create "an effective regulatory framework" for the law.
The bill was amended in the Assembly so local governments could ban dispensaries as long as patients and caregivers can still get medical marijuana.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: fresnobee.com
Author: Lewis Griswold
Contact: fresnobee.com - Help
Website: Tulare County supervisors oppose medical marijuana bill - Local - fresnobee.com
