Central California Setback

Despite the California Compassionate Use Act, which allows Californian medical cannabis patients safe access to medical cannabis, Bakersfield has a ban on medical cannabis collectives in the city. However, a group of concerned citizens are working feverishly to get the ban lifted.

A group called Kern Citizens for Patient Rights (KCPR) have created the Medical Cannabis Initiative in hopes of replacing the City of Bakersfield’s current collective ban with California’s Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act.

Although they are making progress toward filing the petition with the city clerk, supporters of the initiative told Bakersfield.com they still needed more time. According to Jeff Jarvis, who is behind the initiative and also a board member for KCPR, only around 12,000 of 17,500 signatures collected so far can be verified as local registered voters.

In order to get the initiative on the November ballot, KCPR must collect signatures from 10 percent of Bakersfield’s current registered voters, which equals to 15,438 signatures. Jarvis told Bakersfield.com on Monday, June 20, “I’m pretty confident, positive that we don’t have enough to turn in. If they don’t go in today, I would guess within four to five business days.”

Even if the signatures are all submitted on time, supporters of the initiative may face another hurdle. Once signatures are submitted, the city and the county have 30 days to verify the signatures. Once the signatures are verified, The County of Kern then requires an approved resolution requesting to include the initiative on the ballot from the Bakersfield City Council by August 12. Without this, there is no way the initiative will make it on the November 8 ballot.

The issue now is that once the signatures are submitted, the City Council has 10 days to pass the resolution. However, the next meeting for the City Council is not until August 17. Bakersfield’s city manager, Alan Tandy explained that calling a special meeting for City Council may be a difficult task. He told Bakersfield.com, “It’s been very difficult in the past to arrange special meetings of the City Council and this is the height of vacations of conflicts.”

Aware of these issues, Jarvis concluded that the Medical Cannabis Initiative may not appear on the ballot until next June. Either way, the supporters of the bill continue to push the initiative forward.