California dispensaries anticipate stricter regulations after passage of 3 medical marijuana bills

With three statewide medical marijuana bills signed into law Oct. 9, California dispensaries are now anticipating stricter regulations on distribution and sale, beginning in 2018.

The legislation — Assembly Bills 266 and 243, and Senate Bill 643 — delineates a new system of licensing, growth tests, processing, transportation and sale of medical marijuana. Products are now required to be tested for purity and potency, and will undergo stricter packing regulations and oversight. Additionally, the legislation calls for increased regulation of the use of pesticides at the cultivation site.

The package of bills intends to solve issues that were deemed a “gray area” under the old regulations, according to Tim Townsend, capitol director for Assemblymember Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, who co-authored AB 266.

Since the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, which made the use of medical marijuana legal in California, state farms and dispensaries have operated under local rules and regulations. According to Townsend,...

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