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.

Let's face it, there have been lots of mistakes in the medical marijuana industry over the past 20 years. And I mean lots of mistakes, beginning way back in 1996 when California passed Proposition 215.

That was the first attempt of a state to legalize medical marijuana, and the result has been pretty messy. Sure, marijuana became available. But there hasn't been much oversight or control. And for a long time, California has been the wild west of the medical marijuana movement.

Get ready for some corny “peace pipe” jokes because Native American tribes are jumping on the weed wagon. 

Nearly 20 years after California passed medical marijuana, Gov. Brown sets statewide industry regulations

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a trio of bills into law Friday that create a system of oversight for the growth, manufacture and sale of medical marijuana in the state.

The new regulations come nearly 20 years after the state passed medical marijuana laws in 1996 – California was the first state to pass such laws.

Last Tuesday, the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka, California was swarming with potheads. A pro-cannabis rally had been organized by State Assemblyman Jim Wood, who knows how to grab headlines: In July, Wood walked onto the State Capitol floor carrying a live marijuana plant and asked his colleagues to regulate the heck out of it.

SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly two decades after California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, the state finally is planning to regulate the vast, unruly industry the voter-approved move spawned.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed a package of bills that create a licensing and oversight framework for the growing and selling of medical marijuana and pot-infused products.

Here are the basics on the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, how it might affect the existing landscape for medical marijuana and what happens next.
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California is in the midst of an ecological disaster! Under the guise of producing “medical marijuana” huge pot plantations are completely dewatering streams and causing irreparable harm to some of the most precious ecosystems on earth.

America has spent over 40 years and $1 trillion to interdict and stop the flow of illicit drugs into the US. Now, California has a $32 billion marijuana industry illegally supplying 60% of the marijuana to the entire US market while our government(s) stands idly by. California is the nation’s cartel.

Nearly 20 years after California jump-started a national dialogue on medicinal cannabis, the Legislature and the Governor have succeeded in negotiating a set of new bills to bring law and order to the Wild West economy of legal cannabis in California.

Should the governor sign his name to the package of bills the Legislature approved last month — AB 266, AB 243 and SB 643 — there will be profound changes in the industry; standardized licensing requirements and processes, tight restrictions on water and pesticide use, consumer safety standards, and public safety regulations that tightly control the distribution of cannabis from where it is grown to where it is sold.

Amoeba Music is a staple record store that originated in Berkeley, California and expanded to locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. As the music industry turned digital, it’s remained one of the few brick and mortar locations in the country that still holds some cultural significance as a community hub. Still, there’s really no competing with the almighty force of iTunes — and now Apple Music — and Amoeba is struggling to stay afloat as well by incorporating a new product into their inventory: marijuana.

Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed off on historic new rules setting regulations into California’s medical marijuana industry, much to the delight of many industry workers and advocates applauding the decision.

After signing a trio of bills Friday night, Brown approved the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA), which will aim to bring a standard of quality to the state’s medical cannabis industry, MSNBC reports.