California Roundup: General, State, Marin County

GENERAL

Growing Clean Cannabis to Pass California’s New Rules 

Local grower Joseph Snow has developed a natural farming method that he says will meet California’s new mandate for cannabis to be free of pesticides, fungus, and mold.

Joseph Snow, who grows at an undisclosed Bay Area location, is still in the experimental phase but has nonetheless been growing small, indoor crops of cannabis that have been passing laboratory tests with no sign of pesticides and impressively low levels of molds and fungi. Moreover, Snow’s grows have been producing average-size yields of highly potent cannabis.

During a chat last week, the 28-year-old Snow folded his 6-foot-5-inch frame into a chair at Au Coquelet Cafe & Restaurant in Berkeley. He was born in New York but was mostly raised and educated in Israel. And when he talks about the principles of growing cannabis, he becomes quite passionate. “I’m not in this for a hippie-dippy notion of growing organic plants,” said Snow. “That is the goal, of course, but I’m really in it for the science.”

Earlier this month, the California Bureau of Cannabis Control released a nearly 500-page tome of proposed regulations that will set standards for everything from licensing for growers and dispensaries to acceptable noise levels for outdoor growing activities. Under this extensive oversight, each individual cannabis plant will be “tracked and traced” from “seed to sale” with particular attention paid to the presence of contamination levels on plants bound for the marketplace. Using sophisticated testing methods, state-certified laboratories will test cannabis products to ensure they meet minimum levels of pesticides, solvents, fungus, and mold.

STATE

Bureau Of Cannabis Control: Fresno Workshop

The Bureau of Cannabis Control (Bureau) will hold a public workshop in Fresno to receive comments regarding the recent release of its California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Initial Study and Proposed Negative Declaration (IS/ND) for its regulatory licensing and enforcement program (Proposed Program) for commercial cannabis distributors, retailers, testing laboratories and microbusinesses.

The overall purpose of the Proposed Program is to establish a regulatory licensing and enforcement program that ensures medicinal and adult-use commercial cannabis activities are performed in a manner that protects the environment, commercial cannabis industry workers, the general public and complies with applicable laws.

Based on the findings of the IS/ND, the Bureau has determined that the Proposed Program would not have any significant effects on the environment.

The Bureau recently made the IS/ND available for public review and will consider public comments regarding the content of the IS/ND. The formal comment period for the IS/ND for the Proposed Program began on September 6 and ends at 5 p.m. on October 6.

WHERE: Fresno Convention Center, 838 M Street, Rooms 2009-2012, Fresno, CA

WHEN: Wednesday, September 20, 2017 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The Bureau will host its third and final community workshop meeting in Sacramento on September 21 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

More information on the workshop meetings, Initial Study results and Notice of Intent can be found at: http://www.bcc.ca.gov/.

Comments may be emailed to: BCC.CEQAcomments@dca.ca.gov.

For additional information about the Bureau of Cannabis Control, or to subscribe to email alerts to hear about updates as they become available, please visit our website – http://www.bcc.ca.gov/. For information on all three licensing authorities, please visit the state’s cannabis web portal – cannabis.ca.gov.

Follow the Bureau’s Facebook and Twitter pages at https://www.facebook.com/BCCinfo.dca/ and https://twitter.com/BCCinfo_dca for additional information.

 

Bureau of Cannabis Control: Sacramento Public Workshop

SACRAMENTO — The Bureau of Cannabis Control (Bureau) will hold a public workshop in Sacramento to receive comments regarding the recent release of its California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Initial Study and Proposed Negative Declaration (IS/ND) for its regulatory licensing and enforcement program (Proposed Program) for commercial cannabis distributors, retailers, testing laboratories and microbusinesses.

The overall purpose of the Proposed Program is to establish a regulatory licensing and enforcement program that ensures medicinal and adult-use commercial cannabis activities are performed in a manner that protects the environment, commercial cannabis industry workers, the general public and complies with applicable laws.

Based on the findings of the IS/ND, the Bureau has determined that the Proposed Program would not have any significant effects on the environment.

The Bureau recently made the IS/ND available for public review and will consider public comments regarding the content of the IS/ND. The formal comment period for the IS/ND for the Proposed Program began on September 6 and ends at 5 p.m. on October 6.

WHERE: Sacramento Convention Center, 1400 J Street, Room 315, Sacramento, CA

WHEN: Thursday, September 21, 2017 from 6 to 8 p.m.

More information on the workshop meetings, Initial Study results and Notice of Intent can be found at: http://www.bcc.ca.gov/.

Comments may be emailed to: BCC.CEQAcomments@dca.ca.gov.

For additional information about the Bureau of Cannabis Control, or to subscribe to email alerts to hear about updates as they become available, please visit our website – http://www.bcc.ca.gov/. For information on all three licensing authorities, please visit the state’s cannabis web portal – cannabis.ca.gov. Follow the Bureau’s Facebook and Twitter pages at https://www.facebook.com/BCCinfo.dca/ and https://twitter.com/BCCinfo_dca for additional information.

 

California County Fairs to Sell Cannabis?

http://www.dopemagazine.com/california-cannabis-fairs/

It’s all thanks to Senate Bill 94, which covers everything from standards for organic marijuana to home deliveries and allowing samples at county fairs. It’s the result of months of negotiation between lawmakers and marijuana businesses, and combines the state’s new recreational marijuana law with the current medical marijuana program.

California Bill Could Disrupt Cannabis Concentrate Production by Limiting Butane Extraction

https://merryjane.com/news/california-butane-restrictions-tracking-legislation

According to the L.A. Weekly, Assembly Bill 1120, introduced by Assemblyman Jim Cooper, would put heavy restrictions on butane, the most popular solvent in cannabis extraction production, used in large quantity to produce dabbable wax, shatter and oil, in addition to edibles and other concentrates such as vape cartridges.

If Governor Brown signs AB1120, butane would be treated much like Sudafed and other previously common and commercial methamphetamine production precursors. Under the proposed regulations, butane purchases would be limited to 20 oz. per person per month, or two standard sized canisters, with a state sales register to track those purchases.

MARIN COUNTY

Dates Changed For Medicinal Marijuana Hearings

The Marin County Board of Supervisors is considering a new delivery-only retail ordinance in the coming weeks.

https://patch.com/california/sanrafael/dates-changed-medicinal-marijuana-hearings

MARIN COUNTY, CA – From Marian County Community Development Agency: After receiving extensive public feedback in the past week, the County of Marin has decided to allow more public review time for its new draft ordinance about medicinal cannabis delivery-only retail business regulations for the unincorporated area of Marin County.

The ordinance, prepared by the Marin County Community Development Agency (CDA), was scheduled to be brought before the Marin County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 26 and for a final hearing on Oct. 10. Instead, the County will conduct a public workshop and hear public comment during the regularly scheduled Oct. 10 Supervisors meeting. The public is invited to comment before the first reading of the ordinance Oct. 31. A final public hearing is set for Nov. 14.

All three meetings before the Board of Supervisors will start at 1:30 p.m. in the Board chamber, Suite 330, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael.

In addition, a separate Q&A session with CDA staff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 19 in the Board chamber; that is unchanged from a previous notice.

If the ordinance is approved Nov. 14, a license application period would begin.

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