County taps state grant to target illegal market
Monterey County’s cannabis program will tap a state Proposition 64 grant worth nearly $1 million.
Monterey County’s cannabis program will tap a state Proposition 64 grant worth nearly $1 million to fund expanded educational efforts on the risks of youth marijuana use, and enhanced inspection and enforcement of cannabis businesses, as well as the battle against the local illegal market.
During its consent agenda Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved a Proposition 64 grant agreement with the California Board of State and Community Corrections for $996,545 with the goal to “improve health outcomes through integrated countywide initiatives” associated with the implementation of the state Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which legalized adult recreational use of cannabis for anyone over the age of 21.
According to the county cannabis program proposal, the grant funds will be used in three main ways.
The proposal calls for expanding educational efforts through youth prevention led by the Sun Street Centers and the county Office of Education, aimed at reaching 1,500 local middle school-aged students through school-based cannabis education and pre- diversion programs, including the expansion of Sun Street Centers’ existing “Road to Success” program in South County.
It includes enhancing existing inspection and enforcement of legal cannabis businesses by adding mobile vendors to the current list of 15 “brick and mortar” vendors operating in the cities and unincorporated areas of the county that are subject to annual storefront inspections, providing outreach and educational materials for cannabis retailers to make available to customers in stores, and creating a cannabis curriculum addressing public health issues such as age verification and adverse health outcomes associated with cannabis use, as well as an education and social marketing campaign aimed at illegal marijuana products.
And, the proposal will increase
capacity through the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office to test cannabis at illegal cultivation sites to compare it to regulated cannabis, and to seize products that appear to be illegal or counterfeit, as well as provide two annual law enforcement trainings for up to 100 people on legal issues and changes in enforcement practices, and the like.
According to the cannabis program proposal, the local illegal cannabis market “targets” the community by producing marijuana “with blatant disregard” for the environment and public health and safety, “often creating serious property damage, injury and even death,” and selling products in “counterfeit packaging that may contain toxic chemicals, or not cannabis at all” to youth and young adults under the legal age.
The proposal also warns that states that have legalized medical or recreational cannabis have higher rates of marijuana use than those that don’t and notes the “negative health effects” of cannabis use are “heightened when use begins in adolescence,” and that “claims that cannabis has medicinal properties, recreational legalization, and advertising of cannabis as harmless, may lead to an increase in youth abuse and dependence.”
Also Tuesday morning, the county board retroactively ratified approval of a $1.25 million Emergency Rent & Utility Relief program through United Way Monterey County and 11 community partner agencies to assist low-income families affected by a loss of income or employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The board also on Tuesday narrowly backed state Proposition 21, which would expand local governments’ authority to enact residential rent control, and also narrowly rejected a bid by Supervisor Luis Alejo to support Proposition 19, which would change certain property tax rules including inheritance tax, before unanimously taking a neutral stance on the initiative. Both propositions appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.