Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Dispute Over Rules Riles California’s Legal Pot Market
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
January 18, 2019

Share

LOS ANGELES — California has finalized its rules governing the nation’s largest legal marijuana market, a milestone coming more than a year after the state broadly legalized cannabis sales for adults.

“Love it or hate it, California has regulations for commercial cannabis. There are no asterisks.” — Hezekiah Allen, chair of cannabis growing cooperative Emerald Grown and former executive director of the California Growers Association
But a dispute over home deliveries into communities that ban pot sales could end up in court. And the hundreds of pages of dense regulations are unlikely to resolve other disputes, including how purity and potency tests are conducted for infused cookies and other products.
Even if imperfect, the rules were welcomed by many in the industry who have been contending with shifting temporary regulations since California kicked off broad legal sales last year.
“Love it or hate it, California has regulations for commercial cannabis. There are no asterisks,” said Hezekiah Allen, chair of cannabis growing cooperative Emerald Grown and former executive director of the California Growers Association, an industry group.
Meanwhile, the regulations that deal with the minutia of running a legal pot business do not address other broad challenges in the industry, from a lack of banking access for pot companies that will likely need to be resolved in Washington to what to do about a thriving illicit market that is undercutting legal sales.

Biggest Dispute Focuses on Deliveries

“Do these solve every problem that exists in the cannabis business regulatory regime? Absolutely not,” said Assemblyman Ron Bonta, a Democrat from Oakland who said the rules nonetheless create a strong foundation for a market that has gotten off to a shaky start.

“Do these solve every problem that exists in the cannabis business regulatory regime? Absolutely not.”Assemblyman Ron Bonta
By far the biggest dispute focused on deliveries. The rules released Wednesday will allow home marijuana deliveries statewide, even into communities that have banned commercial pot sales.
The regulation by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control was opposed by police chiefs and other critics who predict it will create an unruly market of largely hidden pot transactions, while undercutting control by cities and counties.
The League of California Cities said the rule conflicts with Proposition 64, the law approved by voters in 2016 that opened the way for broad legal sales, which says local governments have the authority to ban nonmedical pot businesses.
“This decision puts the public safety needs of communities across the state at risk,” league executive director Carolyn Coleman said in a statement.
Many cannabis companies and consumers had pushed for the change, since vast stretches of the state have communities that banned commercial pot activity or not set up rules to allow legal sales. That means residents in those areas were effectively cut off from legal marijuana purchases.
“The public spoke loud and clear in favor of statewide delivery,” cannabis bureau spokesman Alex Traverso said in a statement.
Bonta said he supports statewide deliveries for medical patients, regardless of local bans, but not recreational users. He suggested legislation may be needed to deal with the dispute.

Executives Say Some Products Being Rejected

Kenny Morrison, president of the California Cannabis Manufacturers Association, said the state failed to examine the experience in other states, which in turn has created costly problems for California companies with labeling and testing.
Industry officials have complained that the state rules force growers and manufacturers to hit too tiny a target when gauging levels of THC in products, the psychoactive chemical that causes marijuana’s high.
Rules require the THC concentration come within 10 percent of what is advertised on a product label. Company executives say some products are being rejected after landing outside the margin by tiny amounts, and that hitting that required range is even more difficult with low-dose products.
Colorado allows a more sensible 15-percent range, Morrison said. He said the state also should be mirroring rules set by the federal government, which could eventually oversee the national pot market. Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level.
“Nobody cares more about the quality of the product than the manufacturer,” he said.
Ruben Honig, executive director of the United Cannabis Business Association in Los Angeles, said the state’s biggest challenges remain cutting hefty tax rates that can approach 50 percent in some communities and cracking down on widespread illegal sales.

DON'T MISS

How About an Honest Conversation About the Range of Light Monument Proposal?

DON'T MISS

UConn Coach Geno Auriemma Breaks NCAA Wins Record With 1,217th Victory

DON'T MISS

Fresno Doctors Will Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Kickback Allegations, DOJ Says

DON'T MISS

Warriors Guard De’Anthony Melton to Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery

DON'T MISS

Massive Ground Beef Recall Affects Restaurants Nationwide, USDA Warns

DON'T MISS

Chris Stapleton Wins 4 CMA Awards, but Morgan Wallen Is Entertainer of the Year

DON'T MISS

These Fresno Schools Are Unsafe and in Bad Condition. And No One Is Complaining

DON'T MISS

Putin Says Russia Has Tested a New Intermediate Range Missile in a Strike on Ukraine

DON'T MISS

SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Who Led US Crackdown on Cryptocurrencies, to Step Down

DON'T MISS

Is Fresno Mobile Home Park Controversy Over? Tenants Applaud Federal Judge’s Ruling

UP NEXT

Major Storm Drops Record Rain, Downs Trees in Northern California After Devastation Further North

UP NEXT

Newsom Heads to Fresno, a County That Voted for Trump

UP NEXT

Conservative Professors and Students Are Beating CA Community Colleges in Court

UP NEXT

Thousands of University of California Workers Go on 2-Day Strike Over Wages, Staff Shortages

UP NEXT

Gavin Newsom Pledged to Release His Tax Returns Every Year. The Last One Was for 2020.

UP NEXT

California Governor Will Not Make Clemency Decision for Menendez Brothers Until New DA Reviews Case

UP NEXT

Fewer Kids Are Going to California Public Schools. Is There a Right Way to Close Campuses?

UP NEXT

California Voters Reject Measure That Would Have Raised Minimum Wage to Nation-High $18 Per Hour

UP NEXT

With Democracy Supposedly at Stake, California Voters Stayed Away in Droves

UP NEXT

Volunteers Came Back to Nonprofits in 2023, After the Pandemic Tanked Participation

Warriors Guard De’Anthony Melton to Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery

54 minutes ago

Massive Ground Beef Recall Affects Restaurants Nationwide, USDA Warns

58 minutes ago

Chris Stapleton Wins 4 CMA Awards, but Morgan Wallen Is Entertainer of the Year

1 hour ago

These Fresno Schools Are Unsafe and in Bad Condition. And No One Is Complaining

1 hour ago

Putin Says Russia Has Tested a New Intermediate Range Missile in a Strike on Ukraine

1 hour ago

SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Who Led US Crackdown on Cryptocurrencies, to Step Down

2 hours ago

Is Fresno Mobile Home Park Controversy Over? Tenants Applaud Federal Judge’s Ruling

2 hours ago

Wiggins, Curry Power Warriors to Dominant Win Over Hawks

2 hours ago

Sale and Skubal Claim Cy Young Awards After Historic Pitching Triple Crown Seasons

2 hours ago

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

2 hours ago

How About an Honest Conversation About the Range of Light Monument Proposal?

It sometimes seems that we have lost the ability to truly communicate with one another. It is not so much what we say to one another, but ho...

7 minutes ago

7 minutes ago

How About an Honest Conversation About the Range of Light Monument Proposal?

40 minutes ago

UConn Coach Geno Auriemma Breaks NCAA Wins Record With 1,217th Victory

47 minutes ago

Fresno Doctors Will Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Kickback Allegations, DOJ Says

54 minutes ago

Warriors Guard De’Anthony Melton to Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery

58 minutes ago

Massive Ground Beef Recall Affects Restaurants Nationwide, USDA Warns

1 hour ago

Chris Stapleton Wins 4 CMA Awards, but Morgan Wallen Is Entertainer of the Year

1 hour ago

These Fresno Schools Are Unsafe and in Bad Condition. And No One Is Complaining

1 hour ago

Putin Says Russia Has Tested a New Intermediate Range Missile in a Strike on Ukraine

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend