How The New California Marijuana Law Has Impact The United States

Update on the Impact of the New California Marijuana Law in California and the Rest of the Country

With the passing of the Compassionate Use Act, Proposition 215, in 1996, the state of California opened the curtains on marijuana use decriminalization and legalization across the United States. Being the first state to legalize medical marijuana and the fifth to vote on recreational consumption of the drug, California has continued to set the pace for others to follow.

Recently, in response to agitations from key players in the industry, state legislators embarked on a cleansing mission of state’s cannabis laws to accommodate in school administration of medical marijuana for severe conditions, recall, dismissal, and/or a re-designation of a criminal marijuana conviction, subject to certain conditions and lots more.

Some of the significant pieces of legislation of the recent state of California marijuana laws update is outlined below:

Senate Bill 1127 drafted by Senator Jerry Hill in honor of Jojo, who suffers from Lennox-Gastaut syndrome sought to authorize California school districts, county boards of education, and charter schools maintaining kindergarten or any grades 1 to 12 to adopt a policy to permit a parent or guardian to possess and administer cannabis to a student who is a qualified patient under the Compassionate Use Act, excluding smokeable or vapeable form, at a school site.

The act is intended to upturn initial regulations that restricted the administration of cannabis medication within the limits of school grounds even in the case of emergency. Before now, Jojo and many others like him had restricted access to life-changing cannabis medications on the school grounds. For Jojo, his mother has to be at school every day at noon to administer the recommended dosage of (CBD) with a trace amount of THC, to control his severe seizure disorder but cannot do it on the school campus.

Of great affirm is the Assembly Bill 1793 which was recently passed and accented to by the governor. The act establishes a pro-active role in the recall, dismissal, and/or a re-designation of a criminal cannabis conviction of an offense for which a lesser offense or no offense could be imposed under AUMA.

This act mandates the Department of Justice to review the state summary criminal history information database and identify the past convictions that are eligible for recall, dismissal, and/or re-designation. It gives the opportunity to those with past convictions before July 1, 2019, that are eligible for recall, dismissal, and /or re-designation to have their conviction dismissed if there is no objection within a specified timeframe from the office of the persecution.

Under former laws, an individual may petition for a recall, dismissal, and/or a re-designation of the offense, but the new law offers a proactive alternative.
In addition, there were changes made regarding cannabis deliveries. For starters, the monetary value of products that delivery drivers may carry at any time was increased from $3,000 to $10,000, and a ban was placed on the “mobile fulfillment” concept that has been adopted by most marijuana delivery companies.

The “ice cream truck model” in which marijuana delivery trucks were essentially stocked full and they drive around fulfilling orders as they are placed.
The new regulations make it explicit that drivers must receive orders first before filling and driving out to fulfill such orders.

Although the new regulations have addressed more than a few concerns, there are still quite some others that are begging for attention. It is hoped that in subsequent status reviews, some of these concerns will be addressed.