New rules spark more efforts to legalize pot
Advocates hope to get recreational use on ’16 ballot
SACRAMENTO — Dale Sky Jones was among the marijuana industry leaders who were watching as the governor signed new statewide regulations Friday.
On Monday, she had filed papers to put a measure on the November 2016 ballot to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in California.
The governor and Legislature crafted the new rules for the growth, transport and sale of medical marijuana so they would accommodate a broader system of marijuana use, and Jones’ measure is intended to mesh with them.
Jones, who heads Oaksterdam University, the first college in the country for the study of cannabis, said the legislation was drafted with valuable input from representatives of law enforcement and the marijuana industry, among others.
The ballot measure “would complement what the legislation forwarded,” Jones said Friday.
The threat of a ballot initiative to make California the fifth state to legalize general marijuana use spurred the Legislature to act after years of stalemate on the issue, according to Nate Bradley, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Assn.
His group is working on legalization proposals, of which there are several. According to Bradley, lawmakers told him that “this would be the last chance the Legislature would have to have some say in how the initiative looks.”
Jones’ coalition has backing from groups including California Norml, Americans for Safe Access, the Emerald Growers Assn., the Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance and the Council on Responsible Cannabis Regulation.
“We’ve filed our proposed initiative language based on the policy priorities and common-sense reforms Californians have been asking for six years now,” Jones said, adding that attorneys have helped create “an elegant policy document” consistent with guidelines crafted by other advocates.
If her group’s initiative passed, she said, dispensaries licensed under the new state rules could begin selling marijuana for recreational use within eight months.
The measure is awaiting clearance by the attorney general’s office before petition signatures can be gathered. It is one of five so far proposed to legalize recreational marijuana use. Advocates are hoping interested parties can agree on one.
Industry leaders and money may be most likely to support Jones’ measure, which would allow those at least 21 years old to consume, possess, cultivate and transport personal-use quantities of marijuana.
Her group would need 365,000 signatures of registered voters to qualify the measure for the ballot. Voters rejected a similar measure in 2010, but a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 55% of likely voters favor legalization of cannabis for general use.