Pubdate: Fri, 05 Feb 2016
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Joe Garofoli

REPUBLICAN NAMED STATE'S 1ST MEDICAL POT CZAR

California has its first weed czar - otherwise known as chief of its 
Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation - and it's a Republican, Lori 
Ajax, who is now chief deputy director of the California Department 
of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

The job - which insiders have nicknamed the "chief BuMMR" (as in 
Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation) - pays $150,636 a year. Gov. 
Jerry Brown's appointment Thursday of Ajax requires confirmation by 
the state Senate.

If Ajax, 50, is approved, she will get the rare opportunity in 
Sacramento to create a state agency. The marijuana czar will hire 40 
to 50 people, whose salary would be paid for with the stream of new 
cannabis licensing fees created by California's recently passed 
medical marijuana law.

But much of the job will involve the routine of administration, such 
as creating information technology systems and crafting regulation policy.

Cannabis activists were guardedly optimistic about the choice 
Thursday, noting Ajax previously handled alcohol licensing for 20 
northern California counties, giving her contacts with local 
officials in the part of the state where 60 percent of the nation's 
marijuana is produced.

Steve DeAngelo, owner of the Harborside Health Center in Oakland, 
which is California's largest medical cannabis dispensary, was 
"cautiously optimistic" Thursday. He was impressed that Ajax led a 
delegation to visit Harborside in April 2014.

"For me, that's reassuring because it showed me that she has an 
interest in learning about the industry," DeAngelo said. "And she's a 
woman, which is great, because the cannabis industry needs some more 
diversity."

Others in the business had asked Brown to appoint someone with no 
ties to the cannabis industry who would be able to navigate state bureaucracy.

"Lori comes to us as a relative unknown, which is a good thing from 
our perspective," said Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the 
California Growers Association.

"She is a very skilled bureaucrat," Allen said. "And she doesn't have 
a horse in the race as far as how this comes out" in terms of issuing 
cannabis-related licenses. "Somebody from L.A. could have a hard time 
understanding what it looks like in the northern counties."

Sean Donahoe, a top marijuana industry consultant who knows 
Sacramento and has worked on political campaigns unrelated to 
cannabis in California, said Ajax's Republican affiliation - a rarity 
in marijuana circles - might help her in this job.

"There might be greater confidence in some of the rural counties in a 
Republican czar," Donahoe said.

Ajax has been chief deputy director at the California Department of 
Alcoholic Beverage Control since she was appointed 2014. She had 
previously served in several positions in the department since 1995.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom