California Is Going to Pot
February 23, 2009. That was the day that California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced AB 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and
Education Act to the legislation of the State of California. It is scheduled to be heard in Committee on March 26, 2009, so don’t get your panties in a bunch waiting to legally smoke marijuana in California.
The bill, as introduced, contains 27 sections. Some of the sections are blah, blah, blah sections for legal stuff and severability, like Section 27, which basically says that if you got busted for a marijuana crime before the bill passed, you’re still screwed. Let’s take a quick rundown of the sections. Keep in mind that I am not a lawyer and if this bill ever gets past the Governor’s desk, it may be different than presented.Section 1: “We’re in California, and we want to decriminalize marijuana, and here’s what we’re going to do.” A blah, blah, blah section that the Legislative Council reads to prepare the “Legislative Council’s Digest,” the handful of paragraphs that most people read when they want to become “educated” about a bill.
Section 2 states that you have to have a license to sell marijuana anywhere along the production line, from the cultivator to the retailer. (Money for the state).
Section 3 sets license fees for growers and wholesalers at $5000 for the first year, and $2500 for each additional year. In addition to paying extortion money to the state, they also have to have security in place to thwart thievery. This is undoubtedly to make sure that everything gets to the retail stores where additional fees will be added to the purchase price. No one working with marijuana can be under the age of 21 years old. No one can use the product while they’re working with it. Sales can only be made to people who are 21 years or older, and it has to be in a case that is locked up between purchases.
Section 4 removes marijuana crimes from the statues of when paperwork can be destroyed by the clerk of the court. Conceivably, since marijuana crimes would be non-existent, they should be removed from the list.
Section 5 removes the words “marijuana”, “hashish, or hashish oil” and “marijuana cigarette” from the definition of “Drug Paraphernalia.” The interesting thing about this is that if the law passes, possession of and “consumption” of marijuana would become legal in California, but you can’t use your bong. Presumably, Californians would have to make a lot of hash brownies or roll their own, as long as your papers aren’t being used for anything else.
Section 6 removes marijuana and THC from California’s list of controlled substances.
Section 7 removes possession of marijuana from criminalization. It does require that marijuana be kept off school grounds during hours the school is open for classes or school-related programs or you can end up in the pokey for up to 10 days and be fined $500, or $250 if you’re under 18. The first time. If you go there after school, you can smoke all you want, I guess.
Section 8 decriminalizes cultivation of marijuana from the Health and Safety Code. Section 9 decriminalizes possession for sale of marijuana from the Health and Safety Code. Section 10 decriminalizes transportation of marijuana from the Health and Safety Code. Section 11 decriminalizes the use of a minor for transportation, packaging or sale by an adult. This is because Section 3 sets the minimum age for transportation, packaging or sale to be 21.
Section 12 removes “Separation gins and sifters intended for use or designed for use in removing twigs and seeds from, or in otherwise cleaning or refining, marijuana” as drug paraphernalia as currently defined in the Health and Safety Code. It also eliminates the words “marijuana,” “hashish or hashish oil,” similar to Section 5.
Section 13 updates laws that refers to the decriminalized acts of Sections 8 through 11 by eliminating them. Since Section 9 repeals Section 11359 of the Health and Safety Code, Section 13 removes Section 11359 from the list of crimes that are not eligible for probation.
Section 14 eliminates the law that says that the State of California can seize your car if you possess more than 10 pounds of marijuana in said vehicle. It also removes some of the repealed Sections from reference.
Section 15 says that if possession of marijuana is legal, the police can’t keep it as evidence. Current law states that one 10-pound bundle of marijuana must be kept as evidence, and the rest destroyed. Section 15 repeals that requirement.
Section 16 changes the Health and Safety Code once again. It repeals the Section that refers to seizure and sale of equipment used to plant, grow, cultivate, prepare, transport or sale of marijuana.
Section 17 updates another portion of the Health and Safety Code by eliminating more repealed Sections, like Section 13 does.
Section 18 removes reference to the words “marijuana” and “hashish” from drug paraphernalia definitions in another part of the Health and Safety Code. This part of the Health and Safety Code actually deals with loitering with intent to sell or purchase controlled substances. This section would make it legal to loiter while under the influence of marijuana, if not clarified by a later Section.
Section 19 removes various levels of cultivation from criminal activities. Since Section 3 of this bill states that it is legal to grow marijuana if you have a license, growing marijuana is decriminalized.
Section 20 removes growing, transportation, and selling marijuana from the Drug Dealer Liability Act.
Section 21 adds an entire Division to the Health and Safety Code to define marijuana as “all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not;” the seeds, and resin. It does not include the stalk of the mature plant, presumably because it would interfere with the existing hemp laws. This Section provides that you can only consume marijuana if you are 21 or over and in a private residence, or on the lawn if the neighbors can’t see it. Californians will be able to grow up to 10 plants, out of the sight of neighbors and public areas. Licensed nurseries will be able to grow and sell sprouting plants, but only before they reach maturity. Being under the influence in public will get you a ticket. Unlicensed growing will get you a ticket, as will providing marijuana to anyone under 21, and so is using by anyone under 21. No misdemeanors in this law, all violations are infractions.
Section 21 also prohibits state and local police from enforcement of federal laws that are “inconsistent with this division.” It also enumerates the fact that just because possession would be legal, you still can’t drive under the influence or take it to a school.
Section 22 sets the state fee at $50 per ounce sold at retail, unless it is being sold under the Medical Marijuana laws. The state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs will annually (yeah, right) review the state tax to see if it is too much, and adjust it to not more than $50 per ounce. The state tax is identified to “fund its drug education, awareness, and rehabilitation programs.”
Section 23 removes the crime of having more than one ounce of marijuana in an automobile.
Section 24 removes the misdemeanor of driving an automobile while under the influence of marijuana.
Section 25 removes convicted felons who planted, grew, transported or sold marijuana from the list of felons who do not get food stamps in California.
Section 26 is the standard severability clause. If any other part is branded invalid, it stands alone in its invalidity, and Section 27 states that if you were convicted of a marijuana crime when it was a crime, it’s still on your record.
Whew! What a set of legislation. One thing that I find interesting with this bill is that according to the bill, the department won’t start enforcing the laws until “30 days after the operative date of the regulations issued pursuant to this chapter, or 30 days after the date when federal law permits the possession and sale of marijuana consistent with this chapter, whichever is latest.” According to my reading of this, if the State law passes, they don’t need to collect any fees from the cultivators or wholesalers.
I also see in Section 21 that should this bill pass, sale of marijuana by an unlicensed adult to anyone over the age of 21 will ” be lawful and not a violation of California law” as long as the other requirements are followed (locking the case, being 21 or older), until the 30 days waiting period has elapsed. That means that if this bill passes, in its current form, the sale of marijuana in California will not be impeded by California State law enforcement.
What does that hold for the tiny city of Verdi, Nevada? It’s a small border town on highway 80 between Truckee and Reno. A couple of roads cross the border between California and Nevada. Perhaps, before California starts taking the tax dollars, a cottage industry will sprout just west of Verdi supplying the pot smokers of Washoe County. Perhaps thousands of dollars will pour into South Lake Tahoe or Yreka. What does the future tell? If I knew that, I wouldn’t be sitting here asking you now, would you?
In the meantime, we will spare every expense to track the journey of AB 390 as it winds it way through the legislative floor, and we worry about the removal of driving under the influence from the list of misdemeanors. What you do in your own home is your business, unless you get behind the wheel of an automobile and infringe my personal right to not getting killed by someone under the influence of anything. Of course, that may already be part of the alcohol laws, but we’ll check that out, or it may be for some other legal group to decide.
In the meantime, you can BLOW IT OUT YOUR PIE HOLE! (and someday, maybe inhale)
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