Pubdate: Thu, 26 May 2016
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Column: The Week in Weed
Copyright: 2016 North Coast Journal
Contact:  http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Grant Scott-Goforth

GREETING THE POT CZARINA

A line of more than 100 eager attendees snaked out of the entrance to 
Arcata's D Street Neighborhood Center to meet the chief of 
California's newly formed Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation.

The czarina, Lori Ajax, started the meeting, explaining to a mostly 
jovial crowd that the bureau was in its infancy. "I started with the 
bureau on Feb. 24," she said. "It's the strangest thing when you 
start at a place and you're the only person."

The bureau's biggest priority at the moment is hiring, she said, 
before introducing Assistant Chief Counsel Tamara Colson - appointed 
by the Governor a week before - and An-Chi Tsou, a senior policy 
advisor who had worked closely with drafters of the medical marijuana 
act that passed last year and created the bureau.

Tsou led most of the meeting, and made clear early on that it was a 
"listening tour;" they were in Humboldt to hear local concerns.

Most of the details of the regulations will be worked out over the 
next year and a half before the bureau begins to enforce new laws in 
2018. That point was lost on several speakers who approached to ask 
specific questions. Tsou assured them answers were coming, and that 
their voices were needed while regulations were drafted.

Others complained about details of the legislation, like the 
separation of cultivation and distribution licenses. "Distribution 
never has been a problem," said one apparent grower to roars from the crowd.

Tsou patiently explained that the legislation - drafted and passed 
last year - was in the hands of the legislators. The bureau's 
responsibility is to take the framework of the law and create the 
specific regulations it calls for. Changing who can hold what license 
types is out of the bureau's jurisdiction.

Other speakers called for anti-monopoly measures to be considered, 
asked the bureau to allow people with drug felony convictions to 
participate in the industry and expressed concerns about growers 
being willing to come out of the shadows. Tsou asked for suggestions 
about how to encourage people not only to come into compliance when 
regulations are set, but to engage in the drafting process. She 
received little direction except for concerns about the costs of 
doing business in a regulated market.

Several people spoke about the importance of protecting medical 
marijuana patients - ostensibly the entire point of California's 
existing marijuana industry - including Americans for Safe Access 
Director Kristin Nevedal, who said she wanted strong standards for 
quality controls between the multiple licensed businesses that will 
see marijuana from seed to its medical users. Others feared a 
continued black market would mean patients would continue to receive 
untested and potentially dangerous products.

But the overwhelming attitude at the meeting wasn't about patients. 
It was about protecting Humboldt County growers' business interests. 
A partner from Hummingbird Healing Center said there was a "real 
opportunity to help people in this room - legacy farmers." The 
increased costs of doing business in a regulated industry would be 
oppressive, he said, and drive farmers out of business. "We really 
need for you to look out for us."

Another said growers were spending a lot of money to become limited 
liability corporations and to come into compliance with moving 
regulatory targets, and asked for some guidance to prepare themselves 
for 2018. Tsou responded they should be engaged in the drafting process.

After Tsou ended public comment and thanked people for coming to the 
meeting, one man shouted angrily from the crowd. Tsou, Ajax and the 
rest of the bureau needed to "do the math," he said. They needed to 
protect the growers or face, he said, the "collapse of an entire industry."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom