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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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12/2016
Michael With the whole Trump hullabaloo, it's easy to miss another groundbreaking political change: The result of the much anticipated vote on the legalization of marijuana smoking in California. After two unsuccessful attempts in 1996 and 2010, California voters actually approved the so-called "recreational use of marijuana" in 2016, i.e. smoking for private enjoyment. "Medical Marijuana" has been available to Californians for a long time, where sales of your THC-containing cannabis product are legal at the officially operated "Dispensories" stores, all you had to do was go to some doctor and get a prescription for mysterious "back pain", then register as a purchaser in a state database, and then smoke until your brain hit the ceiling.
Many people got in on the deal, and an entire industry of state-licensed distribution outlets, as well as doctors who specialize in prescribing, shot up like mushrooms from the ground. Anyone who has ever strolled along Venice Beach in Los Angeles knows that relaxed young people in bright green overalls approach tourists to quickly usher them to the "doctor" who happens to have his practice right on the boardwalk, and with a pointed pen and open prescription booklet for $30, provides the desired permit.
You'd have to know, though, that San Francisco has always been a marijuana metropolis, even without a prescription. It's no secret that whole regions like Humboldt County, about 100 miles north, mainly live off illegal cultivation of cannabis. Drug possession has been treated as a gentleman's crime since the '90s, and only the commercial distribution of it was pursued. However, according to existing law, it was still prohibited, although no policeman in San Francisco would never arrest someone just for smoking a joint unless they had a personal grudge against that person.
I don't want to name any specific companies here, but before my last job change, I made myself known at several well-known Silicon Valley enterprises and filled out their job applications before they even interviewed me. In the section on criminal records, I was asked as an applicant to provide any "criminal records," and it made me laugh when I saw that not only at one company but at several that they explicitly advised leaving out convictions related to marijuana use.
Now, on November 9th, California Proposition 64 was approved by the voters with "57 percent approval. The initiative had been submitted in 2015 and filed with the Attorney General of California, and now everyone can smoke as many joints as they want without legal repercussions. However, what does the new law exactly mean in practice, for example for German tourists who will undoubtedly flock like before to Amsterdam, the mecca of drug consumption, to pilgrimage to San Francisco?
The text of the proposition provides that consumers will only be able to legally purchase cannabis products at licensed stores starting in early 2018. A special sales tax of 15% will then be imposed, which will add revenue to the state coffers. In addition, cannabis farmers will have to pay $9.25 per ounce (28g) of harvested flowers, and $2.75 per ounce for leaves and stems. Revenues are estimated at $4 billion by 2020.
California is currently discussing whether marijuana producers will be allowed to advertise their products on large billboards along the freeways or if the product should follow the same restrictions as tobacco products. In the United States, the states of Alaska, Washington DC, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado have already legalized cannabis and are working on the legal details. Alaska and Oregon are still working on their distribution strategy. In Colorado, cannabis dispensaries are already in operation. Private cultivation of up to six plants is allowed, except in Washington, where only licensed commercial growers are allowed to grow.
In California, private possession of cannabis products will be allowed for adults aged 21 and above, with a limit of one ounce per person. Gifting acquired or homegrown products (also up to one ounce) is permitted. Selling cannabis products is only allowed through official channels, while private sales are prohibited. Consuming marijuana products is not allowed in public spaces such as streets or parks in some states; it must be done only in private residences or on balconies, depending on the state's laws.
Since the legal situation is quite complicated, as I am currently reading in the news, the rollout could be delayed. Bureaucracy in California has always be grinding notoriously slow.
Greetings from the center of the hippie movement:
Angelika and Michael
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