Thread: California Passes Recreational Marijuana Bill Prop 64

California Passes Recreational Marijuana Bill Prop 64

Adult Use of Marijuana Act allows residents to possess and grow weed, though legal purchase may take up to a year

California has passed Proposition 64, a law legalizing recreational marijuana. Fredric J. Brown/Getty

By Kory Grow
5 minutes ago

California voters passed the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, also known as Proposition 64, Tuesday, making it legal to smoke marijuana recreationally in the state, according to the Associated Press. Californians may now grow and possess pot, but Los Angeles Times reports they won't be able to purchase it legally until dispensaries are properly licensed. The state has until January 1st, 2018 to begin issuing licenses. The Times estimates it may take up to a year for lawmakers to set up the rules necessary to regulate the marijuana industry.

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The newly passed proposition allows adults 21 and older to use marijuana however they'd like in their own homes and in licensed businesses, according to Ballotpedia. Citizens may possess up to 28.5 grams of marijuana and grow up to six plants at their private home, as long as they're locked and not visible to the public. It also allows the state to tax the cultivation and sale of pot; cities and counties may also impose their own taxes. Revenue from the taxes will go to drug research, youth programs and other community resources related to regulating the marijuana industry.

Much like laws regulating alcohol, it is still illegal for Californians to drive under the influence of marijuana. Users may also not smoke in public places or wherever smoking tobacco is illegal. In addition, they cannot possess it on school grounds, daycare centers or youth centers where children are present.

If people under the age of 18 are found to be using marijuana, they will have to attend drug education and counseling programs and perform community service. People who sell pot without a license face up to six months in jail and up to a $500 fine. People who smoke weed in public face up to a $100 fine, and people who are caught smoking in public places or near a school face up to a $250 fine.

People currently serving time for weed-related offenses covered under the law are now eligible for re-sentencing.

Medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, though it is still illegal at the federal level. For decades, the DEA has classified marijuana as a "Schedule I" substance, which it defines as "drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse"; other Schedule I drugs include ecstasy and heroin. While a number of states have allowed medical marijuana use – and Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska have passed laws allowing recreational use – the Department of Justice has not been exercising its right to prosecute people using the drug.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/...rop-64-w448877

This is a huge relief. No more quack medical marijuana clinics. No more petty arrests in place of real law enforcement. No more gangsters making easy money. No more rebellious hubris over sitting around stoned. No more CAMP.

That's all over. This is the way it should have been fifty years ago. How many wasted and ruined lives from pointless prison time? How much wasted money and time in the courts and law enforcement?

The future of marijuana in the market place? In that quiet little space next to the expensive liquor at your local grocer next to the tobacco. And we will learn to spurn it like tobacco too. The radical politics of marijuana is officially dead and good riddance.

Florida OKs medical marijuana amendment

Marijuana Legalization Election Results: CA, MA, NV Passes; AZ Rejects; ME Up for Grabs

The five states have voted on full legalization, while four other states could legalize medical marijuana.

By Marc Torrence (Patch National Staff) -
November 9, 2016 9:24 am ET

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California, Massachusetts and Nevada have voted to legalize recreational marijuana in their states, while Arizona rejected its measure and Maine was still too close to call Wednesday morning.

The results of the three statewide marijuana initiatives on the ballot Tuesday night, especially in massive California, could make for a landmark moment in efforts to legalize the recreational drug and push toward a repeal of federal cannabis prohibition.

Four other states — Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota — passed ballot measures legalizing medical marijuana.

"This is obviously a positive development, particularly with the size of California," Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, told Patch by phone early Wednesday morning. "The money that was going into the hands of criminals is going to be going into legitimate businesses."

In states where these initiatives passed, the new laws will pave the way for openings of recreational marijuana stores and public spaces where people can smoke publicly, as happened in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, where weed is already legal.

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SEE ALSO: Full Presidential Election Results As They Come In

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States were reporting high voter turnout, likely because of the highly charged presidential race at the top of the ticket.

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap reported strong voter turnout throughout the state Tuesday morning. "Voter participation is high," Dunlap said in a statement. Turnout was also strong across much of Massachusetts.

http://patch.com/us/across-america/m...ca-ma-az-nv-me

They can NOT sell CA. Marijuana in liquor stores, 7-11 or WalMart.

They can only sell it in licensed Marijuana Stores.


Voters legalize pot in California.
Here's what will happen next


Patrick McGreevy Contact Reporter

Voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 64, an initiative that will make California the most populous state in the nation to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, setting state officials in motion to build a massive retail sales system to accommodate the new law.

The ballot measure was buoyed by a flood of $16 million in campaign cash from supporters including former Facebook President Sean Parker.

The approval of the ballot measure would create the largest market for marijuana products in the U.S. It comes six years after California voters narrowly rejected a similar measure. Activists lauded the expected passage as an important moment in a fight for marijuana legalization across the U.S.

“Proposition 64 will allow California to take its rightful place as the center of cannabis innovation, research and development,” said Nate Bradley, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Assn.

The initiative allows Californians who are 21 and older to possess, transport and buy up to 28.5 grams of marijuana and to use it for recreational purposes. That expands the law that 20 years ago legalized marijuana for medical use in California.

California is the largest of five states that were considering the legalization of recreational marijuana use Tuesday and approval here was seen as a milestone in the effort to end prohibition of pot nationwide. Another four states — Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska — have previously legalized pot.

“I think it’s the beginning of the end of the war on marijuana in the United States,” said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was the leading voice of the campaign. “I think it will have repercussions internationally, particularly in Mexico and Latin America. And there are a million people who tomorrow can begin the process of clearing their records.”

The new California initiative would allow adults to grow as many as six plants for personal use. In addition, the ballot measure allows retail sales of marijuana by licensed shops and imposes a 15% excise tax.

Although the measure’s passage would immediately allow adults to possess and grow marijuana, there may not be places to legally purchase it for some time.

The measure only allows non-medical marijuana to be sold by state licensed businesses, and it gives the state until Jan. 1, 2018, to begin issuing sales licenses for recreational retailers.

The approval of Proposition 64 sets off a scramble by state agencies, law enforcement, university researchers and local governments to prepare California for a system that allows people to legally buy and use recreational marijuana.

Updates from Sacramento »

“We’re in a period of massive transformation in cannabis policy,” said Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), a leading lawmaker on marijuana issues.

The issue of when people can legally buy marijuana is one that the state Legislature is expected to grapple with when it returns in January.

Bonta said lawmakers will likely consider allowing existing medical dispensaries to be given temporary, interim power to sell marijuana for recreational use until the new licensing system is in place.

“We have to consider honoring the spirit of the law and making it work,” Bonta said. “If it’s legal to use but there is nowhere to buy, then I think we could consider a special, conditional, time-restrained license that could be operative for a short period of time while we bridge into the new regime that Proposition 64 envisions. That is definitely possible.”

Some in the industry would prefer to let cities and counties approve temporary licenses to sell recreational pot to avoid delays while people are allowed to possess marijuana.

“If you don’t fill that vacuum with regulated sales, then people are going to go to the black market,” Bradley said.

The Legislature will also have to decide whether to reconcile differences between Proposition 64’s regulation of recreational pot and the law approved last year by the Legislature for medical marijuana — or to have two different regulatory schemes.

The state is expected to create a task force to look at which rules to merge.

Some of the changes will be easy. The name of the state agency that will regulate and license marijuana sales will immediately change from the current Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation to the state Bureau of Marijuana Control to reflect its broader mission.

Lori Ajax, who was appointed to head the bureau last spring, is hiring staff and holding public meetings to draft regulations on issues that include licensing.

The approval of Proposition 64 also triggers a five-year, $15-million study by the California Highway Patrol to develop standards and protocols for determining when a marijuana user is too impaired to safely drive a vehicle.

The campaign this year had a big advantage over the failed effort of six years ago. With financial support from Parker and New York hedge fund billionaire George Soros, the campaign was able to raise about 10 times brought in by the opposition.

Newsom, the face of the campaign, argued that the national "war on drugs" has failed while disproportionately hurting minority residents and wasting law enforcement resources.

Proposition 64 was opposed by most major law enforcement groups, including the California Assn. of Highway Patrolmen, the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, and the California Police Chiefs Assn.

Opponents, who also included California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, cited problems including teen drug abuse and impaired driving experienced in states where recreational use was previously legalized.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has voiced concerns in the past about marijuana use affecting worker productivity but did not take a position on Proposition 64, despite a request by five former heads of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency that that he oppose the measure.


10 things you need to know about legalized pot in California

It will continue to be illegal to smoke marijuana in public and at locations where tobacco use is outlawed, including restaurants and theaters. Violators will face fines.

Smoking pot is also prohibited within 1,000 feet of a school, daycare or youth center when children are present. In addition, motorists cannot smoke marijuana while driving.

The initiative bars the marketing of marijuana products to minors, which means ads would not be able to use symbols, language, music or cartoon characters aimed at appealing to those who are underage.

Federal law will continue to designate marijuana as an illegal drug, and federally regulated television and radio states are not allowed to advertise illegal drugs. If federal law should ever change, the ballot measure would require that broadcast, cable, radio, print and digital marketing only be displayed where at least 71.6% of the audience is reasonably expected to be 21 or older.

In addition to the excise tax, the ballot measure would charge a cultivation tax on growers of $9.25 per ounce for flowers and $2.75 per ounce for leaves. Cities and counties could also create their own excise taxes.

The state taxes are expected to generate up to $1 billion annually to be used to cover the state’s enforcement costs, allow research into impaired driving and pay for drug prevention, job placement, mental health treatment and drug abuse treatment.

Aaron Herzberg, an attorney and partner with marijuana product firm CalCann Holdings, said he expects California’s action to reverberate throughout the nation.

“Approving recreational marijuana in California, the sixth-largest economy in the world, and a state that often sets the trend nationwide, is the death knell of a failed policy of prohibition,” Herzberg said.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-p...108-story.html

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

They can NOT sell CA. Marijuana in liquor stores, 7-11 or WalMart.

They can only sell it in licensed Marijuana Stores.

That will change after the market drops out. Making marijuana legal for commercial sale changes everything. The death of Prohibition meant the death of the speakeasy, those hot spot businesses raking in cash over providing a venue for drinking illegally. You could also get a medical license to consume alcohol then. Back then too, doctors suddenly decided that alcohol had medicinal properties.

Right now commercial marijuana looks pretty prosperous, but this is driven by the fact that it is still local by state. It is the same prosperity that put "Dutch" on the map as a tourist destination. The Netherlands remains a prosperous area for cannabis sales for the same reason. It is a source of attraction for those from other regions looking for a place to get stoned without threat of law enforcement. Legal sales localities are also a draw for those who continue to distribute illegally in states not yet legalized.

The federal government needs to lift its ban on marijuana and leave it to the States. The feds should also consider a legalization program for all recreational drugs, regulate the sales by quantity and quality, make it domestic only, no imports or exports, license all players, who must be US CITIZENS ONLY, tax the sales under the FairTax, use part of the revenue to fund better education of the real risk and consequences of using drugs, and fund free rehab on demand without stigma for anyone who wants or needs it, then stop worrying about it.

In California, Marijuana Is Smelling More Like Big Business - The New ...

www.nytimes.com/.../in-california-marijuana-is-smelling-more-like-big-business.html
Apr 11, 2016 - The opening of the marijuana industry here to corporate dollars has caused a ... Medical marijuana sales in California hit $2.7 billion last year, ...


Legal U.S. Marijuana Market Will Grow To $7.1 Billion In 2016: Report

www.forbes.com/.../legal-u-s-marijuana-market-will-grow-to-7-1-billion-in-2016-rep...

Apr 19, 2016 - Legal marijuana has never been a bigger business. ... market estimation of between $35 and $45 billion dollars, based on data from the USDA, ...

Appeals court rules feds can't prosecute medical marijuana cases ...

www.foxnews.com/.../appeals-court-rules-feds-cant-prosecute-medical-marijuana-cases-...
Aug 16, 2016 - Appeals court rules feds can't prosecute medical marijuana cases unless state law violated. Published August .... A small step towards sanity...

That's a fraction of the business. The entire illegal drug trade is over a $300 billion a year industry, 70% of it is marijuana, over $240 billion a year of it comes in over the Southern Border. Every year that we don't legalize and regulate, that's $300 billion of our money that leaves our country, never to be seen again. You add the costs of illegal immigration needed to run and operate the illegal drug trade, including welfare, education, health care and crime, which is more than $113 billion a year, that's over $400 billion a year plus the costs of job loss and unemployment, and every 10 years that's $4 trillion of our economy up in smoke, gone forever, because of the War on Drugs.

It's time to wake up and get smart. It's time to legalize and regulate the illegal drug trade, tax it under the FairTax and use portions of this revenue to better educate and rehabilitate all paid for by drug users who buy the products.