Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
In November, Shasta County voters will join Californians in deciding whether to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults.
The details are still being worked out as various experts, authorities, health workers and officials comb through the 65-page proposal, but key pieces have emerged since Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced June 30 that the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, aka Proposition 64, will go before voters.
If voters approve, and polling indicates they will, the act would allow adults to have up to an ounce and grow up to six plants, according to a brief summary by the Legislative Analyst's Office. The law would tax sales at 15 percent and levy a per-ounce fee on growers.
Those fees would bring in more than $1 billion annually, the LAO estimates.
The act also would allow marijuana-related businesses that local governments can regulate or outright ban.
Reactions from Shasta County law enforcement, medical marijuana patients and dispensaries are mixed. But they all agree its potential effects, both good and ill, will be huge.
'This Is Coming'
Redding's chief of police, Rob Paoletti, said he discourages drug use - but legalization appears to be looming.
"As a chief, I say stay away from all drugs, but this is coming and we'll be prepared for it," he said.
For those individuals who indulge, their interactions with police won't change much.
"Quite frankly, for less than an ounce of marijuana, instead of issuing a citation, we won't," he said. "I like the fact they're going to regulate it like alcohol. I don't think it's healthy for our youth."
Most complaints about cannabis to police concern the smell, he said. But stoned drivers cause him the most concern, he said. No good tests or standards exist to gauge how much is too much, he said. However, he acknowledged officers can arrest drivers who show objective signs of impairment regardless of the amount in their bloodstream.
"They can, but it makes the prosecution harder," he said.
He sees body cameras, along with anti-DUI education, as ways to counter it.
But Paoletti and Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko both expressed worries about minors having more access to pot. Several organizations have reported statistics that connect legalization with higher use of marijuana by minors, Bosenko said.
States that have legalized pot make up four of the nine states where one in 10 high school seniors admitted to using marijuana within the previous month in 2013 or 2014, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration annual survey.
But Crystal Plotner, general manager of Pharm-To-Table pot dispensary in Meford, Oregon, said legalization has helped keep marijuana out of the hands of minors because while her dispensary IDs customers, drug dealers don't.
"The only times we've had shoulder tapping are middle-aged adults who didn't have their ID," she said.
What About 215 Users?
The city of Shasta Lake is home to the only pot dispensaries in Shasta County. It's also the home of Rose Smith, a former city councilwoman, who treats anxiety and arthritis pain with a high CBD-strain of medical marijuana.
She supports legalization, but considers the Adult Use of Marijuana Act a cash grab by the state that's riddled with contradictions.
"Once you have six plants, you harvest them," she said. "You might have 6 pounds of dried marijuana, so then you're breaking the law again, you'd have too much."
But Queen of Dragons dispensary owner Dr. Tammy Brazil said the type of high-CBD-strain cannabis that Smith and others dispense encapsulates a big reason why she doesn't like the proposed act's method of legalization. High-CBD pot, one of her best sellers, typically won't get someone high, she said.
As more recreational users swell the market, expert growers may switch to the more lucrative - and much easier to grow - strains used just to get high. That would leave little supply for patients who, like Smith, depend on special strains, Brazil said.
The high-CBD strains also sell well at Leave It To Nature, a collective that opened in Shasta Lake less than two weeks ago, said Stacy Lidie, its director.
But unlike Brazil, she supports the proposed act because the state already has laws on the books that protect patients.
She agrees with Brazil that large commercial businesses getting in on the trade worry her and understands the concern about specialty strains. But the act only allows small-scale operations until the early 2020s, she said.
In addition, demand from Proposition 215 patients who use the specialized strains will remain, she said.
But those fears may be unfounded, Pharm-To-Table's Plotner said.
"We have a ton of recreational interest in CBD," she said. "Clientèle want to use it for the more therapeutic side of things. They're really not using it to get high. They're using it for a medical condition just without a (medical marijuana) license."
Lidie said Californians should realize the proposed act, while imperfect, is still a good law that can be patched up later.
"It's time we got on the bandwagon and showed other states how it's done," she said.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Police, Medical Marijuana Crowd Mixed On Legalizing Pot
Contact: (530) 243-2424
Photo Credit: Greg Barnette
Website: Record Searchlight
The details are still being worked out as various experts, authorities, health workers and officials comb through the 65-page proposal, but key pieces have emerged since Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced June 30 that the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, aka Proposition 64, will go before voters.
If voters approve, and polling indicates they will, the act would allow adults to have up to an ounce and grow up to six plants, according to a brief summary by the Legislative Analyst's Office. The law would tax sales at 15 percent and levy a per-ounce fee on growers.
Those fees would bring in more than $1 billion annually, the LAO estimates.
The act also would allow marijuana-related businesses that local governments can regulate or outright ban.
Reactions from Shasta County law enforcement, medical marijuana patients and dispensaries are mixed. But they all agree its potential effects, both good and ill, will be huge.
'This Is Coming'
Redding's chief of police, Rob Paoletti, said he discourages drug use - but legalization appears to be looming.
"As a chief, I say stay away from all drugs, but this is coming and we'll be prepared for it," he said.
For those individuals who indulge, their interactions with police won't change much.
"Quite frankly, for less than an ounce of marijuana, instead of issuing a citation, we won't," he said. "I like the fact they're going to regulate it like alcohol. I don't think it's healthy for our youth."
Most complaints about cannabis to police concern the smell, he said. But stoned drivers cause him the most concern, he said. No good tests or standards exist to gauge how much is too much, he said. However, he acknowledged officers can arrest drivers who show objective signs of impairment regardless of the amount in their bloodstream.
"They can, but it makes the prosecution harder," he said.
He sees body cameras, along with anti-DUI education, as ways to counter it.
But Paoletti and Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko both expressed worries about minors having more access to pot. Several organizations have reported statistics that connect legalization with higher use of marijuana by minors, Bosenko said.
States that have legalized pot make up four of the nine states where one in 10 high school seniors admitted to using marijuana within the previous month in 2013 or 2014, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration annual survey.
But Crystal Plotner, general manager of Pharm-To-Table pot dispensary in Meford, Oregon, said legalization has helped keep marijuana out of the hands of minors because while her dispensary IDs customers, drug dealers don't.
"The only times we've had shoulder tapping are middle-aged adults who didn't have their ID," she said.
What About 215 Users?
The city of Shasta Lake is home to the only pot dispensaries in Shasta County. It's also the home of Rose Smith, a former city councilwoman, who treats anxiety and arthritis pain with a high CBD-strain of medical marijuana.
She supports legalization, but considers the Adult Use of Marijuana Act a cash grab by the state that's riddled with contradictions.
"Once you have six plants, you harvest them," she said. "You might have 6 pounds of dried marijuana, so then you're breaking the law again, you'd have too much."
But Queen of Dragons dispensary owner Dr. Tammy Brazil said the type of high-CBD-strain cannabis that Smith and others dispense encapsulates a big reason why she doesn't like the proposed act's method of legalization. High-CBD pot, one of her best sellers, typically won't get someone high, she said.
As more recreational users swell the market, expert growers may switch to the more lucrative - and much easier to grow - strains used just to get high. That would leave little supply for patients who, like Smith, depend on special strains, Brazil said.
The high-CBD strains also sell well at Leave It To Nature, a collective that opened in Shasta Lake less than two weeks ago, said Stacy Lidie, its director.
But unlike Brazil, she supports the proposed act because the state already has laws on the books that protect patients.
She agrees with Brazil that large commercial businesses getting in on the trade worry her and understands the concern about specialty strains. But the act only allows small-scale operations until the early 2020s, she said.
In addition, demand from Proposition 215 patients who use the specialized strains will remain, she said.
But those fears may be unfounded, Pharm-To-Table's Plotner said.
"We have a ton of recreational interest in CBD," she said. "Clientèle want to use it for the more therapeutic side of things. They're really not using it to get high. They're using it for a medical condition just without a (medical marijuana) license."
Lidie said Californians should realize the proposed act, while imperfect, is still a good law that can be patched up later.
"It's time we got on the bandwagon and showed other states how it's done," she said.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Police, Medical Marijuana Crowd Mixed On Legalizing Pot
Contact: (530) 243-2424
Photo Credit: Greg Barnette
Website: Record Searchlight
