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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

California legislators have passed legislation (AB243 [ca.gov], AB266 [eastbayexpress.com], and SB643 [ca.gov]) that will transform the regulation of medical cannabis [theguardian.com]:

Nearly 20 years after California became the first state to legalize the medical use of marijuana, legislators have a plan to impose order on the erratic patchwork of inconsistent policies that currently govern the billion-dollar industry. "We're making up for two decades of inaction", said state senator Mike McGuire, whose district includes the "Emerald Triangle" in Northern California where 60% of the marijuana grown in the US is cultivated. "This legislation brings clarity and desperately needed rules and regulations."

In the final hours of the legislative session that ended late Friday night, lawmakers passed a trio of bills that create a legal framework that puts the state firmly in control of managing marijuana from "seed to sale" while still leaving local municipalities with the ability to craft their own ordinances and impose taxes, according to state assembly member Ken Cooley, author of one of the bills. The deal was brokered with the assistance of governor Jerry Brown, virtually ensuring it will be signed into law.

Under the plan, a new Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation will be created inside the existing Department of Consumer Affairs, charged with managing almost all aspects of marijuana growing, distribution and sale. The bureau would oversee state licenses in these areas, but only if a local license has already been approved. [...] That "local control" element has been a major sticking point for the legislation since discussions began early this year, with law enforcement and city and county governments insistent that they have the ability to regulate the specifics of cannabis commerce within their communities, and some growers initially wary of a plan that was supported by police.

But after "10,000 human hours," of input from stakeholders, "the current proposals are much different than what we were looking at back then," says Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the Emerald Growers Association, a trade group of cannabis cultivators with 250 members. "I couldn't imagine a better policy package", he said. "For the first time in generations, we are not going to be criminals ... we are on a level playing field with the other stakeholders".

The bills also cover a large array of other issues, big and small, including tracking mechanisms such as bar coding to follow marijuana from the time it is planted until sold to consumers. They also will allow distributors who have been charged with felonies connected to the sale of marijuana to still qualify for licenses from the state – an issue for many dispensary owners who have operated in grey areas of the law for many years.

[...] Unions may also benefit from the legislation, which includes a component that creates an apprenticeship-training program. Often in California, such programs are union-operated, and some cannabis workers in places including Oakland have already joined unions. The United Food and Commercial Workers and the Teamsters support the legislation. But medical practitioners who issue licenses will face additional scrutiny. The bill adds "oomph" to the state medical board's ability to crack down on physicians who issue cannabis prescriptions without a "bonafide basis", said Cooley. The law may also have a component that creates a state database of prescription holders.

Other measures include changes to address the "environmental crisis" caused by illegal (outdoor) growers, and the imposition on cannabis growers of the same water and chemical use restrictions that are imposed on other agricultural crops. The legislation empowers the California Department of Food and Agriculture to offer an organic label for qualified growers as well as "appellation" labeling rules similar to those in the wine industry (to prevent misrepresentation of where cannabis/grapes are grown). The "edibles" market must meet the same types of state-mandated health and safety standards that apply to other food industries. A proposed excise tax on finished cannabis products did not make it into the final legislation.

The new medical cannabis regulations could be used as a starting point for recreational cannabis should California voters legalize it via ballot initiative in 2016.

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