April 13, 2011 – A bill to allow local regulation of medical marijuana collectives and cooperatives has been introduced by Assemblyman Blumenfield (AB 1300).
The bill expands on the SB 420 definition of “cooperative” and “collective” as follows:
(b) “Cooperative or collective,” for purposes of this article, means a location where qualified patients, persons with a valid identification card, or the designated primary caregivers of qualified patients and persons with identification cards associate within this state in order to collectively or cooperatively cultivate marijuana for medical purposes.
The bill would repeal last year’s Buchanan bill, which established a 600-foot buffer zone from schools.
Instead, it gives local governments broad authority to regulate collectives, as follows:
Nothing in this article shall prevent a city or other local governing body from adopting and enforcing any of the following:
(a) Adopting local ordinances that regulate the location, operation, or establishment of a medical marijuana cooperative or collective.
(b) The civil and criminal enforcement of local ordinances described in subdivision(a)
The basic thrust would be to do away with a flood of ongoing court suits that challenge local authority to regulate collectives.
Note that it does nothing to assure that patients who can’t grow their own will have safe or convenient access to medicine in their community.
The bill is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Apr. 26th.
– Dale Gieringer
