Pubdate: Sat, 21 Apr 2012 Source: Bakersfield Californian, The (CA) Copyright: 2012 The Bakersfield Californian Contact: http://www.bakersfield.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/36 REGULATE MEDICAL CANNABIS AT STATE LEVEL A bill that would create a state authority for regulation of marijuana dispensaries makes sense. It would bring order to an industry that currently lacks it and legitimacy to the idea of marijuana having medicinal benefits by establishing clear rules for its sale, production and use. The legislation would do this by creating a nine-member medical marijuana board within the state's Department of Consumer Affairs -- the same department that houses the state's medical, registered nursing and pharmacy boards. The board would be in charge of permitting and establishing rules for businesses that sell, grow and transport medical marijuana and levying fines and penalties against violators. The legislation would allow one dispensary per 50,000 residents in a city or county area and, most importantly, would allow local voters to ban them outright or impose tighter restrictions. The law will require careful crafting but if done correctly will accomplish what many individual counties have not been able to do: create a credible, sensible means to get medical treatment to those who legitimately need it -- an objective that was the intent of California voters who passed the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. It would also bring California in line with most other compassionate-use states which have established a centralized authority for the drug's regulation. Furthermore, it would present a more united front to the federal government, which at times has warmed to the idea of allowing states to permit the medical use of marijuana -- even as it has pursued prosecutions in California. However, the bill should be amended to include some of the safeguards requested by law enforcement groups. They have advocated for provisions such as requiring marijuana workers to be licensed, mandating surveillance of marijuana shops and requiring preapproval for transportation of medical cannabis. These requests deserve consideration by the bill's author, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco. Consensus is building in the medical community that marijuana has a role in patient therapy. Eighteen states have legalized this use. The federal government must do the same at some point. Still, regulation will be key to controlling the conditions for which one can be prescribed marijuana and how it's packaged and distributed to those patients. This bill consolidates those rules under a single authority while retaining the right of voters in a municipality to impose further limitation or bans on medicinal marijuana. This is a far better approach than leaving regulation subject to local law enforcement and a handful of local politicians. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt