GENERAL
Title: California’s First Batch of Legal Cannabis May Contain Pesticides Due to Lack of Safety Regulations
Author: Merry Jane
Date: 18 December 2017
Extract: The Golden State is only now getting around to imposing rules on marijuana contaminant levels.Recreational cannabis products will be hitting the shelves of retail establishments throughout California next month, but testing firms are warning customers that this first crop of weed was grown without safety regulations in place. As a result, the state’s inaugural batch of fully legal marijuana may have greater levels of pesticide, mold, or contaminants than pot grown in more strictly regulated states like Colorado or Oregon. Medical cannabis has been available in California since 1996, but state officials never imposed regulations on how medical marijuana products should be tested, or what levels of potential contaminants should be permissible for public consumption.
Title: California’s new pot rules violate the promise to small farmers
Author: LA Times
Date: 16 December 2017
URL: http://beta.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-marijuana-farms-20171216-story.html
Extract: That’s because the initiative barred the state from licensing any marijuana farm larger than one acre until 2023 — or at least that’s what voters were led to believe when they passed Proposition 64 overwhelmingly. Nevertheless, a state agency has quietly, mystifyingly issued a rule that could circumvent the proposition and open the new state market to Big Weed.
The five-year head start for small farmers was a concession specifically designed to win support — or at least quell some of the opposition — from growers in Northern California’s Emerald Triangle, who worried that well-funded corporate cannabis interests would crush them right out of the gate. The delay in Proposition 64 would give them time to get licensed under the new state regulatory regime and carve a toehold in the new legal marketplace for recreational pot.
STATE
Title: Convicted of a marijuana crime in California? It might go away, thanks to legal pot.
Author: Washington Post
Date: 17 December 2017
Extract: California is offering a second chance to people convicted of almost any marijuana crimes, from serious felonies to small infractions, with the opportunity to have their criminal records cleared or the charges sharply reduced. State officials hope to reverse decades of marijuana convictions that can make it difficult for people to gain meaningful employment and disproportionately affect low-income minorities.
“We worked to help create a legalized and regulated process for legal marijuana, but we also wanted to make sure we could help — some way, somehow — repair the damages of marijuana prohibition,” said Eunisses Hernandez, a policy coordinator at the Drug Policy Alliance. The alliance said there have been 500,000 arrests for marijuana offenses in California in the past 10 years, and it estimates that up to a million people have reviewable convictions on their records.
BANNING
Title: Commercial pot may find home in Banning
Author: Record Gazette
Date: 15 December 2017
Extract: Come Jan. 1, when it becomes legal to smoke marijuana in California just for fun, you won’t be able to buy it in the San Gorgonio Pass.
However, it could soon be grown commercially in Banning.
If you get your hands on a few seeds, you’ll be able to grow it at home. But in either case, your pot plants need to stay indoors.
BENICIA
Title: Benicia council to further debate legal cannabis on Tuesday
Author: Times Herald
Date: 15 December 2017
Extract: The City Council will further deliberate at Tuesday night’s meeting on whether or not to allow legalized cannabis in town.
The state has issued deadlines for all towns and cities to decide which way they want to handle Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana in California. Municipalities that do not officially define how they will approach the law will find themselves under state regulation. Benicia has until December of 2018 to decide, but the council has been moving toward a decision for a year now.
LAKEPORT CITY
Title: Lakeport City Council to consider possible amendments for personal and commercial marijuana activities
Author: Lake County News
Date: 16 December 2017
Extract: When it meets next week the Lakeport City Council will consider possible changes to city rules regarding both personal marijuana cultivation and commercial marijuana uses.
The council will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
A report from city Community Development Director Kevin Ingram explained that the proposed changes would reflect state regulations associated with the recently approved
Proposition 64 that legalized the personal use of marijuana, or cannabis, in California and other recent legislative changes concerning cannabis over the past couple of years.
At that meeting, the council will review proposed ordinance amendments that include, but not be limited to, the following.
Personal cannabis cultivation:
– Number of cannabis plants permitted on residential parcels.
– Permitted zoning districts for personal cannabis cultivation.
– Regulations for the cultivation of cannabis on residential properties.
Commercial cannabis uses:
– Potential performance standards for commercial cannabis uses including: cultivation, manufacturing, testing, retail, etc.
– Appropriate zoning districts for the allowance of commercial cannabis uses.
– Consideration of buffer distances for Commercial Cannabis uses (e.g., schools, parks, etc.).
– Commercial cannabis operations
LATHROP
Title: Lathrop may impose temp ban on pot sales in city
Author: Manteca Bulletin
Date: 18 December 2017
URL: http://www.mantecabulletin.com/section/38/article/148667/
Extract: The pending arrival of legalized marijuana has left many California cities unprepared to deal with the potential impacts of commercialized cannabis.
And the City of Lathrop is asking for a bit more time to get a handle on the laws and regulations governing what is expected to become a burgeoning industry.
Tonight city staff is recommending that the Lathrop City Council approve an urgency ordinance that would place a 45-day moratorium on the opening of commercial cannabis businesses within the Lathrop city limits.
LA HABRA CITY
Title: La Habra City Council on Monday, Dec. 18, to consider allowing cannabis distribution facilities
Author: The Orange County Register
Date: 14 December 2017
Extract:
The City Council will get a report from city staffers on Monday, Dec. 18, detailing research about allowing commercial cannabis distribution facilities in La Habra, potentially paving the way for an ordinance to go before the Planning Commission early next year.
In October, the council placed a moratorium on recreational- and medical-marijuana businesses in town, but asked staff to look into permitting warehouse and distribution businesses, testing and quality-assurance labs, and delivery services.
They have also asked staff to look into what medical marijuana dispensaries entail.
Staff members have prepared a sample ordinance for the council, recommending it cap the number of distribution facilities in La Habra at two.
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
Title: SLO County’s largest marijuana farm fights to overturn new pot rules
Author: San Luis Obispo.com
Date: 16 December 2017
Extract: The largest marijuana farm in San Luis Obispo County is behind a campaign to overturn the county’s new cannabis rules, a move that others in the industry flatly oppose.
Calling the county’s ordinance irresponsible, political consultant Sean Donahoe is gathering signatures for a referendum on behalf of CFAM Management Group. It runs a greenhouse operation in Nipomo that employes 75 people to cultivate 49,000 plants and is one of many medical growing operations that could shut down as a result of the rules, which go into effect Dec. 31.
“The way that the ordinance was passed, we are deeply concerned about our inability to get a state license,” Donahoe said.
