ReformCA Officially Files its Highly Anticipated California Recreational Cannabis Reform Initiative

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]n Sunday October 4, the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform (ReformCA) announced that they’d officially submitted their recreational cannabis reform initiative to the office of the California attorney general. This was the group’s first vital step towards its proposal making it on the 2016 state ballot.

Chairwoman of ReformCA, Dale Sky Jones, explained via the group’s website, “We believe this effort has the most statewide input and consensus, and thus the greatest likelihood of succeeding on the 2016 ballot.” The group’s proposed initiative is titled The Control, Regulate and Tax Cannabis Act of 2016 and would include the taxation and regulation of cannabis for those 21 and older, allowing for the possession of one ounce without fear of arrest.

Additionally, the proposal would seek to create an Office of Cannabis Regulation under the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Similar to other recreationally legal states, retailers, growers, distributors and transporters would need to obtain state licenses to cultivate and sell.

During a phone conversation with Dale Gieringer, Director of Cal NORML and one of the co-authors of the initiative, he stated, “We were able to see a lot of convergence amongst many people in regards to where [cannabis] legalization should go, so it was important to incorporate that into the initiative.” Gieringer notes that the coalition worked alongside the Lieutenant Governor’s task force, Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy, and with the Board of Equalization and other tax experts in firming up the goals of the proposal. Gieringer adds, “We also held [an estimated] 15 public meetings from Redding down to San Diego about this, so we’ve really tried to stake out the best possible input.”

Gieringer goes on to continue, “We are really happy that we achieved all the basic principles that we outlined in the beginning of the initiative which were to make marijuana legal for general adult use and regulate and tax it somewhat along the lines of Colorado with modifications here for California; allowing for personal use, cultivation, and sharing with family and friends,  moving towards infractions and misdemeanor penalties and getting away from felony penalties.

We’re also concerned with reaffirming and reasserting rights for medical cannabis patients which were wrongly taken away due to bad Supreme Court decisions in California, as well as improvements to clear prior cannabis convictions as well.”

The announcement of the group’s big step towards next year’s ballot has been met with both excitement and panic. While getting cannabis reform on the 2016 ballot is a collective goal for California cannabis reform activists, the abundance of expected 2016 initiatives is causing some concern. According to Los Angeles Weekly, ReformCA’s could be just one of more than six on the ballot for next year; essentially, the more initiatives surrounding the same topic on a ballot, the more possibility for voter confusion.

Gieringer acknowledges the growing concern regarding a possible abundance of bills on the 2016 ballot, but assures it shouldn’t be looked at as a prominent issue. “There should be concern about competing initiatives circulating, but I do believe that will all get sorted out before that eventuality happens. I can’t promise it; you never know what nut might be out there with $1 million to go around against cannabis reform and of course things like that have happened, but I don’t expect it and we’re trying to avoid that for sure.”

For a concise look at the main intents and purposes of ReformCA’s The Control, Regulate and Tax Cannabis Act of 2016, see below.

• Control, tax and regulate cannabis as a legal product for adult use by revising existing civil and criminal penalties for adults 21 years of age or older who consume, possess, cultivate or transport personal use quantities of cannabis

• Establish a state office to regulate and license the commercial cultivation, manufacture, processing, testing and distribution and sale of cannabis for adult use.
• The Act strives to help produce tax revenues for California to go towards education, public health, drug abuse prevention, state grants, environmental protection, community restoration programs and necessary strategies for safe and responsible legalization.
• Improve law enforcement resources for targeting violent crime by eliminating felony penalties for minor cannabis-related crimes, while assigning felony penalties to serious offenses which undermine public safety, the environment or the welfare of children.
• The Act makes the consumption of cannabis in a public transit vehicle or the consumption of cannabis by persons sitting in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle an infraction subject to a fine of not more than $100.
• Creates a California Cannabis Commission (The Commission). The Commission will be comprised of government officials and experts in public health, medical cannabis, organized labor, local government and law enforcement in order to devise rules and help form the policies applying to the cultivation, sale and consumption of medical and non-medical cannabis in California.