Potential for California’s 2016 Marijuana Legalization Bill
Currently embroiled in debates over the future of marijuana drug law Los Angeles is an interesting place to be right now. In January, a panel up north in Santa Rosa discussed the possibility of passing a marijuana legalization measure in 2016, and what that might mean for the industry as a whole.
Multiple factors are at stake with a legalization bill. Although 2010’s effort to legalize the state’s largest cash crop, Proposition 19, failed by a slim margin, a recent poll conducted by Tulchin Research indicates that 65 percent of Californians would vote to reform marijuana laws. Many voters seem tired of the ongoing debates, and are ready to opt for legalization and solve problems it brings with it, including crammed jails and disputes over how exactly to run an industry that currently exists in a strange medicalized limbo.
The panelists, in a rare show of solidarity, came together to ensure that the industry, which has been operating behind the scenes for decades, would have a strong voice should marijuana be legalized this coming year. They cited concerns that without one, huge preexisting industries like tobacco or casinos or agribusiness would take over.
Panelists also voiced concerns over the exorbitant potential costs of grow licenses, stating that such consolidation of wealth harmed an industry that ought to operate on free market principles. “We need to be politically active and come up with a solution, so that the people who are now doing what they’re doing at least have a chance to be grandfathered in,” said one woman who already has a grow operation, and has for decades.
Still unsolved are questions of what will happen to felons convicted of growing marijuana if it becomes legalized. Panelists disagreed with the idea of banning these felons from receiving licenses to grow, as suggested by the state, and expressed hope that grow-related felonies could be expunged for others looking to get teaching or real estate licenses down the road.
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