Daily Journal | October 7, 2015 –
California Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, held a support gathering Tuesday at Humboldt County Superior Court in Eureka to urge California Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the Medical Marijuana Safety and Regulation Act, with Sunday’s deadline looming.
Joining Wood were Assembly members Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, and Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, all of whom authored a bill that was used to complement Sen. Mike McGuire’s Senate Bill 643, or the Medical Marijuana Safety and Regulation Act.
The package together creates a framework for the cultivation, transportation, distribution and sale of medical marijuana within the state.
Marijuana would be considered an agricultural product, and subjected to the same environmental standards that other agricultural products currently follow.
Also, a track-and-trace program would be established to make sure medical marijuana products aren’t illegally shipped out of state, while creating a Watershed Enforcement Team as a statewide program to establish environmental protections for natural resources.
“The medical marijuana industry has expanded rapidly and without check in my district because direction from the state has been absent,” Wood said in a statement. “I am thrilled that AB 243, which is focused specifically on the needs of the North Coast, will serve as the foundation of the cultivation language in this year’s marijuana package.”
Assembly Bill 243 by Wood aims to provide increased oversight, and the necessary accompanying funding, to ensure that the medical marijuana industry complies with state standards and regulations with regard to water use, water discharge and pesticide and insecticide use – whereas AB 266, co-authored by Bonta and Lackey, aims to ensure patient access, environmental protection and promotion of public safety and public health.