Senate Sessions

Three Bills Could Help End the California Crackdown

Get ready for a hot, punishing summer.

Medical cannabis advocates and their allies in California will be pushing three new laws to protect and promote the besieged industry this June. Advocates are asking for patients’ help with letters to the editors of newspapers and calls to local representatives—especially in cities with dispensary bans. Both efforts can help pass some historic regulations of the $1.3 billion medical marijuana industry, increase its profits and legalize hemp planting. Moreover, the bills might help stem the waves of mass raids and ongoing patient arrests which have followed a May 6 California Supreme Court verdict.

In the pivotal decision, the court upheld a city’s right to ban dispensaries. But the court also left an escape hatch in the unanimous ruling.

“Nothing prevents future efforts by the Legislature, or by the People, to adopt a different approach,” the court stated.

“[That] allows a big hole for the legislature to drive through,” says State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco). “To me, that sounds like a call for the Legislature to act.”

Three bills could protect and enhance patients’ rights in California: regulation bill AB 473, collective protection bill SB 439 and hemp bill SB 566. Watchers say all three bills have a decent chance of passing through the Assembly and Senate this year and being signed by the Governor.

AB 473

AB 473 would begin the process of regulating California’s medical marijuana industry at a statewide level. Voters in 1996 and the legislature in 2003 approved quasi-legalized medical marijuana for patients, caregivers and collectives. But the details have gone unwritten. AB 473 begins that arduous process, chiefly by assigning it to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Statewide regulation can help end local bans, Ammiano argues.

“State regulation should reassure [local officials] and the federal government that dispensaries can operate safely, legally without threats to the communities where they are located,” Ammiano says. “In fact, I think they will see that dispensaries often stabilize and contribute to their communities because of greater attention to security and increased tax revenues.”

The bill’s supporters include the defense bar, the ACLU, the Drug Policy Alliance and others. The ACLU states the bill could get the feds off California’s back, noting states like Colorado with, “rigid regulatory schemes for the sale of medical marijuana do not suffer from the same rate of federal intervention.”

Opponents include the CA District Attorneys Association, the CA Narcotics Officers’ Association, the CA Police Chief’s Association and others. The CDAA wants to keep arresting medical marijuana patients, caregivers and collective operators at police discretion. And they want to keep assisting the DEA in dispensary raids, they state.

If patients want to control the political process, they’re going to have to lobby harder than the cops, watchers note.

“People who want regulations—which should be anyone who wants there to be a safe, legal supply of MMJ—should let their newspapers and representatives know. This is especially true for people who live in districts where their reps are wavering—places where cities are banning dispensaries,” Ammiano’s office says.

The bill has to get out of the Assembly by a May 31 deadline and, “We think it’s a favorable outlook,” an Ammiano spokesperson says.

SB 439

In the Senate, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Sen. Mark Leno’s SB 439 protects “cooperatives, collectives or other business entities that operate within the Attorney General’s guidelines” from prosecution for marijuana possession or commerce.

California cops currently arrest and prosecute lawful patients, caregivers and cooperative operators, due to a perceived legal ambiguity. SB 439 further clarifies that such activity is legal. Opponents include the police lobby, who thinks the bill will legalize for-profit marijuana sales.

The bill passed the Senate May 20 and is headed to the Assembly.

“There is good reason to believe that the governor will sign the bills if they make it to his desk, and the recent vocal support of the Lt. Governor should not be discounted,” says Amanda Reiman, statewide director for the Drug Policy Alliance.

SB 566

Lastly, Sen. Leno’s hemp bill SB566 is moving through the Senate and should be supported, Reiman says. The bill directs the state to start growing industrial hemp as soon as federally possible. Governor Brown vetoed the same bill because he claimed hemp cultivation was still illegal under federal law. “This bill addresses that by saying hemp will not be grown until allowed by federal law,” Reiman says.

Reiman echoes other activists, saying that patients can do two things: “Make sure that their senator and assemblyman are supportive of the legislation and are going to vote yes on it; and talk to fellow advocates to make sure they are also going to support the bills in their communities. It is important for folks to understand that a big reason so many localities have banned dispensaries is because the task of regulating them without help from the state is daunting. We are hopeful that state involvement will increase access to safe cannabis for patients,” Reiman says.

Both houses take their summer recess July 3. Sept. 13 is the last day to pass bills this year.

Three Laws That Could Change California Cannabis Climate

AB 473: Would create statewide MMJ regulation overseen by alcohol regulators.

SB 439: Would protect qualified collectives/MMJ businesses from prosecution.

SB 566: Legalizes hemp cultivation . . .  once the feds legalize it.