STATE
Title: California’s cannabis festivals face uncertain future under new state rules
Author: The Cannifornian
Date: 30 November 2017
URL: http://www.thecannifornian.com/cannabis-culture/cannabis-events/californias-cannabis-festivals-face-uncertain-future-new-state-rules/
Extract: The festival is one of a couple dozen marijuana-themed events held each year at the city’s National Orange Show center. And California’s cannabis event circuit just keeps getting bigger, with more than 100,000 people a year attending shows such as the Chalice festival in Victorville, Emerald Cup in Santa Rosa and High Times magazine’s Cannabis Cup series.
But the future of many of those events is uncertain thanks to one sentence buried in 276 pages of rules California recently released to regulate the cannabis industry.
FAQ: What business owners need to know about California’s new marijuana regulations
CITIES
Chart: How California’s largest cities are regulating recreational marijuana
Title: As California embraces legal marijuana, many cities and counties say ‘no’
Author: KPCC
Date: 5 December 2017
URL: https://www.scpr.org/news/2017/12/05/78423/buying-legal-marijuana-california/
Extract: While California prepares to open the doors to the recreational cannabis industry in 2018, only one of Orange County’s 34 cities, Santa Ana, plans to allow for retail cannabis shops. And no marijuana-related businesses are allowed on unincorporated county land.
Title: California Rules Leave Cities And Counties To Set Cannabis Acreage Caps
Author: Capital Public Radio
Date: 5 December 2017
Extract:
California’s three state licensing authorities released their emergency regulations for cannabis last month. Those rules leave it up to cities and counties to place a cap on acreage for growers seeking a license to cultivate cannabis.
“It has been a very fast and furious year with the development of these regulations,” says Cara Martinson, senior legislative representative with the California State Association of Counties.
LEGAL
Title: Free legal clinic assists those who want to reduce or expunge marijuana convictions
Author: LA Times
Date: 2 December 2017
URL: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-expungement-fair-20171202-story.html
Extract: He was one of nearly 100 people who took part in Saturday’s “expungement clinic” organized by the Drug Policy Alliance, a national drug law reform group. The event comes as California prepares for marijuana legalization.
EL CAJON
Title: El Cajon pro-pot interests sue city “Proposition 64 did not contain an opt-out provision.”
Author: San Diego Reader
Date: 5 December 2017
URL: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/dec/05/ticker-el-cajon-pro-pot-interests-sue-city/
Extract:
A group of El Cajon residents and business owners is accusing city officials of criminalizing commercial marijuana activity.
El Cajon Residents for Responsible Governance filed a lawsuit in Superior Court over a newly adopted land-use ordinance that allows city officials to fine commercial marijuana operators and landlords up to $2500 a day for the first citation — more than $2000 higher than the previous ordinance allowed for.
The ordinance was seen as an attempt to address the passage of Proposition 64, also known as the Adult Marijuana Use Act, which legalized cannabis use for those over 21 years old.
Since its passage, cities across the state and the county have passed ordinances to moderate the rise of pot shops and marijuana use from cropping up.
Poway, Santee, San Marcos, Lemon Grove, National City, and El Cajon passed laws that temporarily banned the cultivation and sale of medical and recreational marijuana.
SAN MATEO
Title: Supes eye marijuana businesses. County officials consider new rules for coastside commercial cultivation
Author: Daily Journal
Date: 5 December 2017
Extract:
As the year nears a close with California slated to soon start licensing recreational cannabis businesses, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is considering whether to bring the green rush to the coast.
The board meets Dec. 5 to discuss and vote on options that run the gamut from either strictly prohibiting commercial operations in unincorporated areas of the county, to potentially welcoming greenhouse cultivation on coastal agricultural lands.
SEBASTOPOL
Title: Sebastopol City Council set to decide whether to allow recreational cannabis retail by January
Author: The Press Democrat
Date: 2 December 2017
URL: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7710964-181/sebastopol-city-council-set-to?artslide=0
Extract:
Sebastopol could become the first place in Sonoma County to establish local rules governing the recreational cannabis trade, allowing adults without prescriptions to buy marijuana by next year.
City Council members Tuesday will consider putting draft rules for the non-medical marketplace on a fast track in preparation for January when recreational cannabis sales can begin across the state.
Adults have been able to lawfully possess and consume certain amounts of marijuana — without a medical recommendation — since November 2016 when voters passed Prop. 64. The next phase begins in 2018 when commerce and production outside of the medicinal market can commence.
“That’s the right thing to do, that’s what the voters wanted, that’s what they expect,” said Erich Pearson, executive director of SPARC, which operates Sebastopol’s original medical marijuana dispensary, formerly called Peace in Medicine, on Sebastopol Avenue near downtown.
TEHAMA
Title: Local group challenges Tehama County cannabis laws
Author: Action News Now
Date: 1 December 2017
Extract:
A group of Tehama County residents is taking steps to try and change existing cannabis laws which they say are too restrictive.
Several members of the group Cannabis Research Committee (CRC) turned in a proposal to the Tehama County planning commission Friday in hopes of having it officially addressed by the board of supervisors.
TULARE
Title: Tulare City Council will talk weed on Tuesday
Author: Visalia Times Delta
Date: 4 December 2017
Extract: Tulare City Council will consider banning medical and recreational marijuana dispensaries, a move seeking to retain local control stemming from the approval of Proposition 64.
Heather Phillips, Tulare city attorney, said what will come before council is an extension of an ordinance already in place.
“All that is happening is that we are proposing to extend the already existing prohibition on medical dispensaries to recreational ones that otherwise would potentially be licensed and opened in 2018 and beyond,” Phillips stated in an email. “[The ordinance] will now say that the city prohibits “marijuana dispensaries.”
