In 2010, the cities of Oakland and Berkeley both started regulating large-scale medical cannabis cultivation, but federal threats and foot-dragging bureaucrats quickly stopped those efforts. More than five years later, both are moving forward again thanks to their adoption of the statewide Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA).

MMRSA was created by the passage of three bills, AB 266, AB 243, and SB 643. Together, they established the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation and assigned responsibility for regulation to the Department of Food and Agriculture. With this statewide oversight in place, California now qualifies for the enforcement exemptions established by the federal government in the Cole Memo from August 29, 2013, which protects states with legal medical marijuana.

Oakland was the first city in California to attempt to regulate large-scale medical marijuana cultivation. In 2010, the City Council passed a law allowing four 100,000-square-foot cultivation and manufacturing facilities. The...