New legislation that would create California’s first comprehensive attempt to regulate the medical marijuana industry would give Long Beach and other cities considerable leeway to regulate the sales and cultivation of cannabis.

Local governments could even enact outright bans on dispensaries and cultivation sites.

Such is the view of the Long Beach City Attorney’s office, where lawyers had roughly one week to examine a trio of bills that passed before the state’s Sept. 11 deadline on new laws ran out.

“The MMRSA (Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act) makes clear that local public entities retain their current right to ban medical marijuana dispensaries, cultivation sites, and related medical marijuana activities within their respective jurisdictions,” Long Beach assistant city attorney Michael Mais wrote in an analysis released Friday afternoon.

“The MMRSA also makes clear that cities are fully empowered to adopt regulatory ordinances related to medical marijuana.”

Long Beach officials have spent much of the past year attempting to write a medical marijuana law for the city. Dispensaries are generally banned within city limits.

The term Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act refers to three bills — A.B. 243, A.B. 266 and S.B. 643 — drafted through what’s known in government lingo as the “gut and amend” process. That means lawmakers substantially rewrote existing bills at a late point in the legislative calendar.

Gov. Jerry Brown has yet to sign the bills, but was involved in the negotiations to write the legislation.

Key provisions of the bills include the establishment of a statewide Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation and a licensing system for people involved in the medical marijuana industry. The legislation also calls for state officials to draft regulations on such matters as the lab testing of cannabis products and use of pesticides by marijuana cultivators.

In Long Beach, the city’s Planning Commission approved a draft medical marijuana ordinance …read more

Source:: Weed Feed