Cannabis Chesislation Promises Regulation, Resolution – May 31, 2012

Wes Chesbro Press Release

Chesbro helps Ammiano medical cannabis bill get off Assembly Floor

His own bill to protect public and forests from illicit drug operations also passes

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D – North Coast) spoke in support of a bill today by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) to protect access to medical marijuana and regulate the industry.

Chesbro is a coauthor of AB 2312, the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Control Act, which would establish the Board of Medical Marijuana Enforcement that would be responsible for crafting statewide regulations and establishing a standardized fee.

“I support this bill because it would establish a statewide regulatory system that would remove ambiguities between state law, federal law and local regulations,” Chesbro said in a statement on the Floor of the Assembly today when Ammiano presented the bill. “Many counties have assembled their own regulations, but the inconsistencies in those regulations put patients and dispensary owners at a disadvantage. Good actors trying to follow state law and local regulations have been penalized for their best efforts to follow the law.

“The goal of this bill is not to limit local control, but assist local governments in grappling with the differences in local, state and federal law. Counties still have the ability to opt out of these regulations and ban the sale of medical marijuana in their counties.”

AB 2284, Chesbro’s bill to protect the public, forests and fish habitat from illegal, environmentally destructive drug producing operations on resource lands, was also approved by the full Assembly with bipartisan support and no opposition.

Both bills now go the Senate.