Historic Federal Vote Protects and Defends Cannabis Legalization

In what has been immodestly heralded as an historic vote, the House of Representatives by an overwhelming margin of 267 to 165 voted to approve an amendment protecting the laws in states that have legalized marijuana to the multi-billion dollar super large-scale Appropriations bill that funds major parts of the federal government for Fiscal Year 2020.

This amendment denies funding to the Dept. of Justice to enforce federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized not just medical marijuana, as it has done since 2014, but expands the funding prohibition to all states that have legalized marijuana for any use. Most notably the amendment received more “yes” votes than the 2015 amendment protecting only medical cannabis states.

Almost all Democrats supported the amendment with only eight voting in opposition. While the majority of Republicans voted against the amendment to deny funding to the DOJ, 41 GOP members supported it.

Not only does this amendment extend the enforcement ban to Washington DC and U.S. Territories like Guam, but in a separate bill passed the following day, the House approved a similar amendment protecting the cannabis laws of Indian tribes. It is interesting to note that this amendment was passed on a voice vote as no member called for a roll call vote.

Additionally, Democrats excluded a longstanding rider from the Appropriations’ bill which prevented Washington, D.C. from using its own local tax dollars to implement a legal marijuana sales program that had been approved by DC voters in 2014.

The rider preventing Washington D.C. from setting up a voter approved distribution program had been authored in previous years by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD). The anti-cannabis congressman bitterly responded to the rider not being included complaining “we’re not in charge anymore,” presumably referring to the Republican Party's loss of control of the House in last year’s midterm elections.

To make up for the rider not being included, the congressman introduced legislation to prohibit the decriminalization of sex work in D.C. Like his rider, it was also rejected during an Appropriations Committee hearing. Hmmm - are Democrats in favor of allowing local governments to decriminalize prostitution? Just which party is the party truly protecting states’ rights?

Of course passing in the House does not guarantee its passage into law. It still remains to be seen how the Senate will approach the appropriations amendments when that chamber takes up its version of this massive funding bill over the next several weeks.

The Senate through a coalition of almost all Senate Democrats and about a fourth of Senate Republicans had gotten the amendment approved in previous years when it only protected medical marijuana. With the amendment now protecting medical and adult-use of marijuana, the opposition may get stronger.

The key player will be Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell. He is an old-line drug warrior that has always supported War on Drugs legislation including marijuana prohibition. He did vote in favor of the bill allowing farmers to cultivate hemp as he knew it would be a boon for Kentucky farmers who have seen their farming income from tobacco significantly decline. If it’s about money for farmers who vote for him, he will throw his decrepit principles under the bus.

It is interesting to note that last year when the House passed the First Step Act, the first federal criminal justice law reform legislation in just about forever, McConnell claimed there wasn’t enough time to bring the bill to the floor. His claims of not enough time were bogus and showcase his antagonism to any criminal justice reform legislation, let alone marijuana law reform, even when the reform is supported by a bi-partisan coalition of Senators. This is not a good omen for the amendment passed by the House denying funding to the DOJ to enforce federal marijuana law in states that legalized its use.

All hope should not be lost. Since marijuana legalization is now supported by a majority of Americans including Republicans, there is always the possibility that McConnell and other Senate Republicans might come to their senses especially when they recognize that stakes for Republicans in the Senate for being re-elected are very problematic. In 2020 there will be 20 Republicans up for re-election and only 12 Democrats almost the reverse of 2018 when 26 Democratic Senate seats were up for election and only 9 Republicans.

It was the fear of losing votes by those Republicans up for re-election in 2020 that played a major role in McConnell suddenly finding the time in 2018 to allow the First Step Act to be voted on and passed on the Senate floor. It may very well be the same fear that will motivate McConnell to allow the Appropriations bill with the DOJ defunding amendment to be voted on and passed.

Then of course there is our mercurial President Trump. My hunch is that he will sign it - just like the First Step Act which he signed. Even though he had nothing to do with it, he now highlights the bill as one of the notable achievements of his administration - at least when speaking to minority audiences. I am sure that after signing the Appropriations bill with the DOJ cannabis defunding amendment, he will tweet grandiose statements taking full credit for the amendment even though he had nothing to do with it either.

He will do this not because he gives a damn about marijuana legalization, but rather because it is not an issue that motivates his all-important base – at his rallies they neither chant “free the weed” or “lock tokers up.”

THE Cannabis Celebration Event

Sales, Consumption, Entertainment, Music, Seminars and FUN

A wonderful and exciting summertime cannabis event is taking place at The State of Cannabiz 2019 Health and Wellness Fair on Saturday, August 10 at the Adelanto Sports Stadium, 12000 Stadium Way, Adelanto CA 92301.

The all-day event is a tribute to the recreational and medical uses of cannabis highlighting its use for health, socialization and celebration. It’s a fun event that recognizes the importance of cannabis in our modern day lives. Geared more to a slightly older crowd then other cannabis celebratory events, the 2019 Health and Wellness Fair welcomes adults 21 & over, seniors, medical patients, veterans and other cannabis consumers to join in for a day of art, music, meditation, seminars, food and of course cannabis.

Yes cannabis can be consumed and purchased in all its many forms - flowers, edibles, vapes, topicals, tinctures, concentrates and more. Spend the day with your friends and make new ones as you visit the many booths featuring your favorite cannabis products, enjoy the music, activities and educational workshops all the while consuming your favorite herb in a safe and welcoming environment.

Music and entertainment is provided all day beginning at 12 noon including a comedy show at 4 p.m. The event’s entertainment culminates at 5:30 p.m. with a special performance by QUNTO SOL, one of the best of the Border Bands - A border band is a band that lives on or near the international border, where the duality of their location influences the music they create. Fusing elements of blues and reggae, and inspired by the sound of the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean, the sound of QUINTO SOL is as unique as it is diverse.

I am really looking forward to the workshops and seminars as I will be the moderator introducing the speakers and their topics ranging from health, wellness, fitness and nutrition to the latest bio-science technologies, innovation, products and consumer trends.

Not only will you have a great time, but it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to attend – general admission is only $25 and $20 for seniors, medical marijuana patients and veterans PLUS you get an additional 20% discount off your admission price by clicking on PROMO CODE on the order page and entering the promo code MAPP. CLICK HERE to order your tickets and save now.

With each admission you get a free swag bag with lots of swag and a ticket for the raffle where you can win great prizes.

If you have never been to a licensed cannabis consumption event, then don’t miss the opportunity to come to one of the best. If you have been to one before, you know how much fun they are and you won’t want to miss this one.

Mark your calendar and save money by ordering your tickets now. Just CLICK HERE or go to www.stateofcannabiz.com

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#marijuana #marijuananews #cannabis #marijuanalegalization #medicalmarijuana #cannabisevents #Adelanto #Trump #FirstStepAct

Riverside Co. BOS Permits MJ Businesses While Cops Raid Anza Valley Growers

Buried deep within the consent calendar for the July 2 meeting of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors was the following item:

TRANSPORTATION AND LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Receive and File Cannabis Request For Proposals Results. All Districts.

The vast majority of consent calendars items are voted on en masse with no discussion although a supervisor can pull a specific item for discussion. At the July 2 Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting, not one supervisor thought any discussion about allowing cannabis businesses to operate in Riverside County was worth discussing.

WOW! Marijuana is now just an item mentioned in the consent calendar and no one cares? Seems that the controversy over marijuana businesses is now somewhere between shoe stores and 99¢ emporiums.

What now seems to be a ho-hum ordinance is the outgrowth of over two years of meetings, deliberations, hearings, recriminations, quarrels and more – not to mention over a decade of contentious contention between medical marijuana patients and reefer mad BOS, cops and district attorneys.

The little noticed notice in the consent calendar announced that Riverside County has broken free of the mindset of 2/3rds of California counties and cities which have banned any and all cannabis businesses. The County is now actually, really and truly considering the applications of 69 would be cannabis entrepreneurs consisting of 24 retailers, 30 cultivators and 15 other marijuana-related businesses.

A county that was once considered to be the backwaters of cannabis promotion, is entering the still somewhat rarified airspace of local governments allowing Prop 64 to be fully implemented.

The conversion of Riverside County from reefer madness to reefer sanity began back in 2015 when Riverside County enacted one of California’s most sensible medical marijuana patient cultivation programs allowing a patient to cultivate 12 plants with two patients per household and most importantly permitting indoor and outdoor cultivation.

Considering that it wasn’t all that long ago that Riverside County was putting the screws to anyone and everyone who dared to cultivate cannabis even for their own personal use, this transformation is beyond amazing – it is mind boggling.

I have written previously of this new ordinance objecting to its cumbersome, complicated and convoluted developer’s agreement model of licensing and regulating, but perhaps the silver lining is that the developer agreement model will generate far less money for the county then a standard tax and regulate model.

In theory this should mean the cost of production and distribution will be considerably less. Whether that cost saving is passed onto the consumers by the cultivators and business owners remains to be seen, but I would advise against holding one’s breath in anticipation of more affordable cannabis products as a result of the developer’s agreement model.

The upshot of Tuesday's meeting is that the county is going ahead with allowing cannabis businesses and this is just the beginning. It is has been made fairly clear that the county will be issuing more licenses as the program is implemented and county staff become more seasoned in dealing with applications, approvals and regulating existing cannabis businesses.

With cannabis businesses operating throughout the unincorporated areas of the County, how much longer will cities continue to ban cannabis business when their residents can merely drive down the road a bit to an unincorporated area to purchase their cannabis for which the county will get all of the taxes and fees and the cities getting nothing.

The one area in which there is a great deal of unfairness and bitter resentment is found in the Anza Valley. The Anza Valley is a beautiful and idyllic sparsely populated locale nestled in the Santa Rosa Mountains 40 miles southwest of Palm Springs and 90 miles northeast of San Diego. Long a small agricultural community with an ideal climate and rural location, it has for many years been a Mecca for cannabis cultivation.

With the advent of Prop. 64, many of the growers there have sought to legitimize their endeavors through inclusion in Riverside County's newly developed commercial cultivation ordinance, but have been thwarted by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Not letting a murder investigation that had begun in the area on Tuesday evening interfere, approximately 80 search warrants were served on cannabis cultivators on Wednesday, June 5. With a staging area established at the local Hamilton High School in the unincorporated town of Anza, over 600 personnel including deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff's office, Army National Guard, Code Enforcement and Animal Control and other public safety agencies swarmed over the rural area serving warrants, confiscating crops and arresting local residents

You can hear the story on the current podcast of Marijuana Compassion and Common Sense. Presenting a fascinating history of cannabis cultivation in the Anza Valley and insights into a community divided, Edison Gomez, Jesse Carroll and Jacob Baird from the High Country Growers Association provide a first-hand account of the raid including why it happened, how the raid was conducted, who was affected and the how community is coming together to deal with its aftermath. To hear the radio show now CLICK HERE or go to www.blogtalkradio.com/marijuananews anytime you want 24/7.

July MAPP Meetings

The MAPP meetings are back on again so let’s get together this Saturday, July 6 in both Palm Springs and Joshua Tree. Lots to discuss including Riverside Co.s foray into legal cannabis businesses, new bills in congress to end federal marijuana prohibition, the positions on marijuana legalization of the Democratic candidates for President as well as Trump, what’s happening in California, 2,500 year old archeological discovery, cannabis for Fido and Fluffy and lots more.

Cookies, milk and punch will be served plus there will be a drawing at each meeting to win a free silicone pipe and a copy of Cannabinomics by Dr. Christopher Fichtner

The Palm Springs/Coachella Valley MAPP meeting Saturday, July 6 at 12 noon takes place at Crystal Fantasy, 268 N. Palm Canyon, downtown Palm Springs CA 92262

The Joshua Tree/Yucca Valley MAPP meeting Saturday, July 6 at 3 p.m. takes place at the Beatnik Lounge, 61597 Twenty-Nine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree CA 92252

July is Sizzling!

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or call 760-799-2055

#marijuana #cannabis #riversidecounty #marijuanalegalization #marijuanabusinesses #Marijuanaanti-prohibitionproject #MAPP marijuanalicensing #marijuanaregulations

Cops Moan While Civil Liberty Advocates Rejoice

Asset forfeiture, more colloquially known as “policing for profit” and “theft by a cop” is one of the most onerous vestiges of the War on Drugs. Trampling civil liberties, flouting the constitution and being ethically, morally and fundamentally bankrupt, asset forfeiture laws undermine good policing by placing the emphasis on making money rather than protecting the public from dangerous criminals.

Enacted ostentatiously to reduce crime by depriving drug traffickers, racketeers and criminal syndicates of their ill-gotten gains, the program quickly morphed into a gigantic cash cow for police agencies who were allowed to keep the money taken in by asset forfeiture.  

What made asset forfeiture so lucrative was that no one had to be convicted of a crime before police could seize their property. More often than not, no charges were ever filed. All cops had to do was claim that they suspected that someone’s property like cars, boats and cash were tied to crime in order for them to keep it.

Like all drug laws, there was a racial component to its enforcement. It should come as no surprise that minorities, immigrants and low-income communities were significantly more likely to fall victim to “theft by cop.” The ACLU reported that over 85 percent of forfeiture payments went to agencies where people of color made up more than half of the local population.

In progressive states like California, legislators realized that this was wrong and passed laws curtailing the ability of police to seize property. Police got around this obstacle by working with federal agencies to enforce loosey-goosey federal asset forfeiture laws thereby not needing state law any longer to seize an innocent person’s assets. Federal law allowed local police agencies to keep up to 80% of assets seized keeping the money spigots open and flowing.

Here is why it great to live in California. Introduced in 2016 and going into effect in 2017, SB 443 made it more onerous for police to make money seizing a person’s assets as the law now required a conviction in most cases before state and local law enforcement agencies could permanently keep anyone’s property.

According to Mica Doctoroff, legislative attorney with the ACLU of California Center for Advocacy & Policy, “The goal of SB 443 was simple: to rein in policing for profit in California and reestablish some of the most basic tenants of constitutional law and values. In particular, the bipartisan-backed law was designed to prevent California law enforcement agencies from circumventing state law in order to use the federal civil asset forfeiture process to profit off the backs of property owners who have not been convicted of an underlying crime.”

While the federal government continues to police for profit and cheer lead the failed war on drugs, through SB 443 California has said enough is enough and we are not going to allow policing for profit in our state.

The police were totally opposed to SB 443 and now it is easy to see why. The amount of money California police agencies have lost because they cannot keep innocent people’s assets any longer is staggering.

LA IMPACT —compared to what they took in during 2015, the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force lost $3.2 million. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department lost $1.6 million.

In the Inland Empire, San Bernardino police agencies went from $2.9 million in 2015 to $258,996 in 2018 while Riverside agencies went from $2.1 million to $1.2 million. Santa Ana and Anaheim police departments lost $2.5 million.

Police are bemoaning the loss of all this money claiming it will put public safety in jeopardy. Of course if police are paying more attention to crimes in which there are real victims instead of spending time going after victimless crimes where they can make more money, our communities will be safer and our constitutional rights and liberties will be respected.

NURSE NAVIGATOR TO SPEAK ON CANNABIS NURSING CONVENTION

Palm Springs and Joshua Tree MAPP Meetings on Saturday, May 4

Ruth Hill, RN, a cannabis nurse navigator specialist, will report on the 2019 Cannabis Nurse Network conference with the latest information on cannabis research, cannabis magazines published by women, new laws being considered by the California legislature and innovative developments in cannabis nurse/patient consultation programs. 

The Cannabis Nurse Network is a global network of registered nurses who include Endocannabinoid System health, and implement cannabinoid therapeutics in support of a patient’s journey to holistic balance. The organization sponsors an annual professional development and education conference designed exclusively for cannabis nurses & licensed medical professionals to advance their understanding of cannabis medicine, the endocannabinoid system and its practical application in day-to-day patient care & practice.

In addition to discussing these important issues, RN Hill will provide handouts on many of the conference’s programs.

Ruth Hill brings over 50 years in nursing from a multitude of settings including hospice and palliative care. She is a member of the Hospice and Palliative Nursing Association, the Oncology Nursing Society and the American Cannabis Nurses Association. Ruth joined Holistic Caring two years ago, a consulting organization that focuses on educating clients on the safe use of medical cannabis.

Cookies, milk and punch will be served plus win a genuine silicon pipe at each meeting.

The Palm Springs/Coachella Valley MAPP meeting Saturday, May 4 at 12 noon takes place at Crystal Fantasy, 268 N. Palm Canyon, downtown Palm Springs CA 92262

The Joshua Tree/Yucca Valley MAPP meeting Saturday, May 4 at 3 p.m. takes place at the Beatnik Lounge, 61597 Twenty-Nine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree CA 92252.

Honor Your Mother                                 Join our 420 Club

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For info email

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or call 760-799-2055

#marijuana #cannabis #drugpolicyreform #marijuanalegalization #assetforfeiture #Marijuanaanti-prohibitionproject #MAPP

Assert Your Power It's Your Government
Join Us at the ASA/CaNORML
Citizens MJ Lobby Day in Sacramento

The ASA/CaNORML Citizen Lobby Day in Sacramento has always been a special event that is informative, productive and fun. For 2019 they are putting together the largest, most rewarding and successful Citizen Lobby Day ever and you can be a part of it!!!

On Monday, May 6, they are expecting over 200 participants representing patients, advocates, providers, industry workers and others to participate in the state's largest cannabis lobby day.

It’s an amazing experience in the democratic process as you take part in the legislative briefing and lobbyist training which will give you the information and skills you need to meet with your state assembly member and state senator at California's state Capitol that very same day. Citizen lobbying works - Research shows that an in-person visit from a constituent like you is six times more likely to influence an undecided lawmaker than a visit from a paid lobbyist.

Lobby day begins with a continental breakfast at 8:00 AM in the Metropolitan Terrace on the 7th Floor of the Citizen Hotel located at 926 J Street, Sacramento. The morning program starts at 9:00 AM, where you will be presented an overview of the bills on which you will be lobbying, along with tips for effective lobbying. You will then be armed with fact sheets on all the bills for your afternoon meetings with lawmakers, along with forms to report on your meetings. Return the forms at the evening VIP reception for lawmakers and attendees in the Scandal Lounge back at the Citizen Hotel starting at 5:30 PM.

Here are some of the bills you will learn about and be trained to lobby for:

• SB 34 (Wiener) to protect compassion programs in California

• AB 286 (Bonta) To Temporarily Lower Cannabis Taxes

• SB 233 (Hill)To Allow Medical Cannabis Access in Schools

• AB 1465 (Bloom) To License Cannabis Consumption Cafés and Lounges

• SB 305 (Hueso) To Allow Qualified Patients Medical Cannabis Access in Healthcare Facilities

ASA/CaNORML’s Citizen Lobby Day has always been extraordinary – everyone who has participated has always felt it was one of the most satisfying days they have spent in a long long time and look forward to participating again

Want to join in – you can!

Every year we rent a van and bring 10 to 15 IE residents to Sacramento for Citizen Lobby Day. Let me assure you that getting there is half the fun!

We will leave on Sunday, May 5 at 8:30 a.m. from Palm Springs and will pick up at several locations along the travel route in the IE from Palm Spring to Riverside and San Bernardino. We arrive in Sacramento at around 6 p.m. and check in at a local motel. We go for dinner and after dinner get together for a social cannabis-friendly event.

On Monday, May 6 we go to the Legislative Briefing and Lobbyist Training at the Citizen’s Hotel in downtown Sacramento. In the afternoon you will go to the State Capitol Building and to the offices of your state assembly member and senator. ASA will make appointments for you, so you will be expected. You will most likely meet with the legislator’s Chief Legislative Aide, but it is not unusual to meet with your actual state assembly member and senator.

After the lobbying, we reconvene in the Scandal Lounge at 5:30 p.m. in the Citizen Hotel for a VIP Reception with lawmakers and other state officials. We leave about 7:00 p.m. for home arriving back in the IE around 2 or 3 a.m.

Yes it is a very full day – one that you will tell everyone you know about. You are not on the sideline looking in – you actually participate in our democracy! And it’s all for cannabis – your right to safe, reliable, local and affordable access in California.

Yes you will actually be able tell your grandkids what you did to end marijuana prohibition.

The cost is only $85 per person. This includes transportation, lodging (two to a room) and all registration and reception fees. We will dine together if you chose, but all food purchases are on your own. We will be staying at the Red Lion Roy Inn in Sacramento. All rooms have microwaves and refrigerators as well as free-internet. Although there is a continental breakfast served at the Citizen Lobby Day morning briefing, there is also a continental breakfast served at the hotel. For those inclined, there is also a fitness center.

There is only room for 12 people in the party van and there are only six seats left – so don’t delay and miss out on this enlightening and fun trip. Email me at [email protected] and reserve your seat in the van, your room in the Inn and most of all you participation in grassroots cannabis activism.

For those who want to go but need some FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, we have a limited number of SCHOLARSHIPS to cover all costs except for meals. Just ask when you make your reservation.

If you can take off on Sunday May 5 and Monday May 6 and don’t need much sleep to function on Tuesday or can just sleep on Tuesday, then don’t miss this extraordinary day. I guarantee you will not regret attending and will look back on it for many years as something that you participated in and accomplished and are very proud of.

Space is limited so if you want to join us, contact me ASAP. Send that email to [email protected] and I will get back to you to sign you up for an experience that will make you feel proud to be an American, a Californian and a cannabis consumer!!!!!!

LOOKING FOR A 420 PARTY ON 420 DAY?

There is one in Palm Springs and It's FREE!!!!

As if you ever needed an excuse to come to Palm Springs, how about a 420 DAY celebration party with live bands, DJs spinning hot dance music, speakers, information booths and more - it is everything you could ever want in a 420 Day celebration except for maybe consuming cannabis. Palm Springs has some weird on-site consumption laws and even though the location is a licensed dispensary where you can buy enough weed to zap a cat, on-site consumption is still verboten.

No matter what PS does and doesn't, the event takes place on Saturday, April 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the PSA Organica Dispensary, a licensed facility just east of downtown Palm Springs. It is an open-air event and since it is Palm Springs, you know the weather is going to be just perfect.

There will be a special ceremony at 4:20 p.m. honoring the amazing health and recreational uses of this ancient medicinal herb. You don’t want to miss celebrating the rapidly approaching collapse of marijuana prohibition and the end of 80 years of reefer madness.

Best of all it’s all FREE – all you need to bring with you is proof that you are at least 21 years of age and you can be a part of an amazing 420 Party.

PSA Organica is located at 400 E Sunny Dunes Rd, Palm Springs, CA 92264. For more information, call them at: (760) 778-1053

Celebrate 420 DAY all year - feel good all year by helping us all year!

Join MAPP’s 420 Club and donate $4.20 every month to keep us going, going, going.

From working with local governments to establish reasonable and workable regulations for cannabis businesses to protecting cannabis consumers from losing their jobs for using legal cannabis, MAPP is there. Please help us be there for you.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MAPP'S 420 CLUB

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION

Riverside County Will Lose $30 Million with Proposed Marijuana Biz Ordinance

Riverside County has just released its proposed ordinance on marijuana businesses and will hold a Board of Supervisors hearing on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 9 a.m. As expected, the ordinance is a morass of overly complex regulations, byzantine bureaucratic application procedures designed as a full employment program for lawyers and a Developer Agreement finance scheme that will result in massive losses of tax revenues to Riverside County.

Now am I sure about what I wrote above? No I am not because this ordinance is as transparent as lead. There are 9 lengthy, complex and obtuse attachments for the BOS to consider when this ordinance comes up for consideration on Tuesday, Jan. 29. If you want to peruse this entangled amalgamate of regulations, permits, fees and more CLICK HERE.

Under this ordinance the county will issue 100 permits broken down into 50 for cultivators, 19 for retailers, 22 for manufacturers, 4 for nurseries, 4 for distributors and one testing laboratory. The rational behind these off-the-wall numbers is that this is the most the Planning staff can handle in 2019.

The major flaw in this entire ordinance is that it is based on a Developer’s Agreement model instead of a Regulate and Tax model which is used by every other municipality that has allowed cannabis businesses to exist. The problem with a Developer's Agreement is that fees cannot be based on sales as then it would be a tax and would require a vote of the people.

If you do not know what a Developer Agreement model is and how absurd it is to apply to cannabis businesses, check out my Oct. 2018 newsletter by CLICKING HERE. With an understanding of what a Developer Agreement is and what it does, it becomes crystal-clear see why no other city or county in California has gone the Developer Agreement route.

The Riverside County BOS had no concept of what they were doing when they went along with Supervisor Chuck Washington’s insistence that a Developer’s Agreement be used for legalizing cannabis businesses. After passing this absurd ordinance, they dumped the problem on figuring out how to implement a Developer’s Agreement onto the backs of the Riverside Co. Planning Dept.  The Planning Dept. had no idea how to do this so they spent an unknown amount of taxpayer dollars to hire HdL Consulting Company.

HdL bills themselves as “the only consulting firm with professionals who have direct experience regulating cannabis operations at the local and state level.” They have made millions developing ordinances, writing regulations, crafting licenses and constructing tax programs for befuddled cities and counties throughout the state.

Not knowing what to do the Riverside County Planning staff punted to HdL to essentially reinvent the wheel as no one has ever done this before with cannabis businesses.

Did the County get its money’s worth? As far as I can tell from my reading of the HdL Companies report, they didn’t - that is if they were expecting a scheme to produce the same $30 to $40 million a year in revenue that a traditional regulate and tax system would produce.

Why is this? It’s the nature of the beast of what a Developer’s Agreement is and is supposed to do. The ordinance is exceedingly complex but I will endeavor to make the following explanation easy to understand. If you take the time to methodically explore it with me, I believe you will come away with an understanding of why this is a prime example of our county government not knowing its ass from a hole in the ground.

In explaining what a public benefit fee does the HdL report noted “The public benefit contribution presents an anticipated range of additional benefits that cannabis business applicants may offer and commit to as a competitive part of the development agreement process.”

The report then offers an example of a typical public benefit fee.

“For example, a cannabis business applicant may offer to pay an additional contribution per square foot (on top of the baseline fee), or they may offer to fund a specific service, such as the full or partial cost of an additional Sheriff’s Deputy, or a public works project that improves the neighborhood where the business intends to locate.”

Here is where it really gets cagey as the report notes:

“These public benefit contributions are presented as a range, from high to low.  These ranges are based upon common cannabis tax rates among 25 local government ballot measures on this past November’s ballot.  It is common to base cannabis cultivation taxes on square footage, but it is uncommon to do so for retailers, manufacturers or other types of cannabis businesses.”

The report tries to pull its punches by saying “it is uncommon to do so for retailers . . .” – the fact is it is beyond uncommon – it is non-existent.

Now the HdL report shows just how goofy a Developer’s Agreement is when applied to cannabis businesses  when it states:

In this case, the public benefit contribution is not intended to be proportional to earnings in any way, but is rather intended to be proportional to the amount of impact that the business may have broadly on the community.

This is followed up with this zinger:

“The rates are generally tiered so that smaller operations (by square footage) pay a lower rate than larger operations.”

For a retailer, that means a dispensary with 1,000 square feet and $100,000 a month in sales will pay a lower Community Benefit Fee then a dispensary with 2,000 square feet but only $60,000 a month in sales.

The HdL report then list four scenarios for how much money Riverside County will generate using the Developer’s Agreement. Depending on the scenario the amount of money generated from retail sales will range from $2,870,000 to $4,300,000 – a far cry from the $30 to $40 million the county could have earned from conventional regulate and tax programs.

To explain how they arrived at the figures in these hypothetical scenarios, HdL presents a truly off-the-wall and disingenuous justification:

“The range of public benefit contributions is intended to approximate the amount of contributions that cannabis businesses around the State are able to reasonably provide, based upon typical profit margins and operational costs converted to a reasonable square-foot apportionment.”

The HdL report is totally silent on how to actually in a real-world sense determine a benefit fee “based upon typical profit margins and operational costs converted to a reasonable square-foot apportionment.”  I guess they are dumping that on the County, but since HdL couldn’t figure it out I doubt if the County’s Planning staff can either.  

The HdL report is a rip-off and Riverside County should ask for their money back. Then again they were asking HdL to do the impossible so they shouldn’t be surprised when HdL can’t do the impossible but writes a report in order to justify the amount of money the County paid them to write a report.

Now it may be argued that the lower fees under the Developer Agreement model will mean lower costs for cannabis consumers. Now that would be worth celebrating but I really doubt if cannabis consumers will see much in cannabis price reductions. They certainly haven't seen much in retail price reductions even though wholesale prices of cannabis have plummeted from an average $2,500/pound pre-Prop. 64 to about $1,250/pound post-Prop. 64.

I have no idea what Riverside County is going to do with the HdL report and the ordinance under consideration at the Tuesday, Jan. 29 meeting of the BOS. If you are looking to get into the cannabis business in Riverside County then you need to be at this meeting if you are ever going to understand what is  happening in Riverside County and what you will have to do if you want to have a cannabis business whether it is a farm, an edible’s manufacturer, a dispensary or a mom-and-pop microbusiness.

It is possible that the BOS may just put this off for another year or two, so if you are a cannabis consumer, you should be there too and let the County know that you expect to have safe, reliable and local access sooner rather than later.

For political junkies who live to see elected officials tie themselves up in knots made under the influence of reefer-madness, this will be a most entertaining government meeting.

The Riverside County BOS meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 29. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. but it is anybody’s guess when it will come up for consideration. I have been told by a reliable source that it is unlikely to be discussed before 10 a.m. BUT if you want to testify it might be best to get there earlier just in case the BOS limits public testimony to just one hour.

The Riverside County BOS meeting is held in the first floor council chambers in the Riverside Co. Administration Building at 4080 Lemon St., in downtown Riverside 92501.

I will be making contact with Riverside County staff and officials on Monday and I may learn a few things – like I got everything wrong and I don’t know what I am talking about or I may get my worst fears confirmed. For those who are interested in learning about what I learn on Monday, I will be holding an open-to-all teleconference on Monday, Jan. 26 at 9 p.m. If you would like to participate in the teleconference, call 605-475-3235 and use access code 275905# to join the conversation.

February MAPP Meetings

Learn about what happened in Riverside, get the latest news, join in the discussions, network, make new friends, stay in touch with old friends, enjoy cookies with milk and win a genuine silicon pipe.

Coachella Valley/Palm Springs MAPP meeting – Saturday, Feb. 2 at 12 noon at the exotic Crystal Fantasy, 268 N. Palm Canyon in downtown Palm Springs 92262.

Morongo Basin/Joshua Tree MAPP meeting – Saturday, Feb. 2 at 3 p.m. at the legendary Beatnik Lounge, 61597 Twenty-Nine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree CA 92252.

Western IE/Riverside MAPP meeting – Our meeting place has closed so the Feb. meeting is canceled until a new place to meet is located..

Celebrate Valentine's Day and show your LOVE for cannabis by joining MAPP’s 420 Club and donating $4.20 every month to help us keep you informed and solidify your right to safe, reliable, local and affordable access.

From working with Riverside County to establish reasonable and workable regulations for cannabis businesses to protecting cannabis consumers from losing their jobs for using legal cannabis, MAPP is there. Please help us be there for you.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MAPP'S 420 CLUB

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION

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As America Recovers from 80 Years of Reefer Madness, So Does the World

As 2018 comes to a close and 2019 looms, Americans, according to most pundits, are as divided and polarized as they have ever been going all the way back to the times of the Civil War. One of the very few issues that is enjoying bipartisan support across the political and cultural spectrum is the end of marijuana prohibition and the beginnings of various state sanctioned legalization programs.

Polls universally show the majority of Americans support marijuana legalization. A June 2018 poll conducted by GBA Strategies for The Center for American Progress found 68% of voters support marijuana legalization. This support cuts across party lines with 77 percent of Democrats, 57 percent of Republicans and 62 percent of independents supporting legalization.

Support for legalization also cuts across racial lines with 72 percent of African-Americans, 69 percent of whites and 64 percent of Latinos in favor. There use to be a major gender gap with women opposing legalization, but now the sexes see marijuana almost identically with 69 percent of women and 66 percent of men supporting the legalization of cannabis.

With Michigan legalizing the recreational sales of marijuana in 2018, nearly 80 million Americans — 25 percent of the total U.S. population — live in a state or jurisdiction that has legalized recreational marijuana.  What began with California’s passage of Prop 215 legalizing the medical use of marijuana has morphed into a nationwide push for ending marijuana prohibition that appears unstoppable. The genie is definitely out of the bottle.

As America recovers from eight decades of reefer madness, it should be expected that there will be bumps in the road as states implement their own legalization programs with varying degrees of success. The predictions by marijuana opponents of rampant crime, addicted children, carnage on the highways and the end of civilization have not materialized.

With over $8 billion in sales in 2018, which are expected to reach over $23 billion in just four years, marijuana businesses are springing up like flowers in spring. Overcoming the byzantine regulations and licensing systems enacted by nervous-Nellie legislators and government agencies, these newly enfranchised businesses are a remarkably diverse lot notably giving the lie to the predictions of the "nattering nabobs of negativism" who claimed that legalization will lead to the take-over of the marijuana trade by Monsanto and Marlboro.

As noted in a previous newsletter, with the Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives, there is a real possibility that federal marijuana prohibition may end in 2019. As proof of their commitment to allowing states to move forward with legalization programs, the Democratic staff of the congressional Joint Economic Committee published The National Cannabis Economy highlighting the “economic benefits of legalized cannabis at the state and national levels.” To read the full report CLICK HERE.

Since it was the United States that spread reefer madness throughout the world, it is incumbent upon the United States to spread reefer sanity. Fortunately other countries are not waiting for the United States to start the process before they legalize cannabis. Canada legalized cannabis sales throughout the country in July 2018 and Mexico, whose Supreme Court already declared that it is unconstitutional to prohibit the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana by individuals, has a new president who is committed to not just legalizing marijuana but upending America’s War on Drugs.

It is not just Western industrialized nations that are changing their attitudes on marijuana. In the African continent  Lesotho and Zimbabwe have legalized marijuana for medical use and the South African Supreme Court unanimously legalized the private use of cannabis ruling that it was “unconstitutional and therefore invalid” to criminalize the drug.

Most significantly as reported by Newsweek Magazine, a number of Asian nations, with some of the most severe and repressive laws “have taken note of cannabis legalization movements in North America and other countries, with several moving to chart a similar path.” Citing progress in Asian countries as diverse as Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea, the magazine noted that “India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan also becoming interested in looking at medical cannabis in part because they see how much money the rest of the world’s companies and countries are getting out of it.”

Hmmmm – “how much money” they “are getting out of it.” No matter how much we might wish it was otherwise, the bottom line of marijuana legalization, like just about everything else, is that it’s all about money. We may very well have “freed the weed,” but weed still has its price.

TOKIN' WOMEN

A 4,000 Year Herstory of Women and Marijuana

Be dazzled and inspired by the newest edition of Marijuana Compassion and Common Sense when you learn about Tokin' Women, a must-read book that delivers amazing descriptions of amazing women who over the last 4,000 years have been been consumers and purveyors of cannabis from the ancient goddesses of milleniums past right up to the film goddesses of today.

Elaborately researched, delightfully written and colorfully illustrated, author Nola Evangelista, seeks to counter today's male dominated marijuana culture by infusing the spirit of women along with the freedom to enjoy this most celebrated herb. Tokin' Women reveals the story of over 50 remarkable women and their intimate connection to the world of cannabis.

Our interview is with Ellen Komp, Assistant Executive Director of California NORML, who has chosen the pseudonym Nola Evangelista to be the listed author of the book. Discussing why she wrote the book, the work that went into research and its relevance to the current age where marijuana is once again reclaiming its rightful place alongside humanity, Ellen will explain why the subjugation of women in human culture has conincided with the supression of healing herbs and plants like cannabis.

Hear Tokin' Women author Ellen Komp right now - just CLICK HERE or log in anytime 24/7 to www.blogtalkradio.com/marijuananews.

CELEBRATE THE YEAR OF CANNABIS AT  MAPP MEETINGS

IMPORTANT: Riverside County has received the report from HdL on how to implement the absurd and obscene Developer's Agreement for the proposed Cannabis Business ordinance. The Planning Dept. is refusing to release it to the public - I am working on getting it. The Board of Supervisors will be discussing the ordinance and the HdL plan at their Jan. 29 Board meeting. I will present at the January MAPP meetings what I have learned about this.

In addition there will be a free-wheeling and open-ended discussion of marijuana in 2018 and what needs to happen and will happen in 2019. We have come a long way so recount some of your stories of how you got to where you and we are with marijuana. Please see the special note about the Moreno Valley meeting.

Network, socialize, get informed, enjoy a delicious assortment of cookies, milk and punch and win a genuine silicon pipe.

Moreno Valley/Western IE MAPP meeting - Wednesday, January 2 at 7:30 p.m. -. This will be the last meeting of MAPP at Greenview Medical as the office is closing mid-January. Locating a new meeting place will be discussed. Meeting takes place at Greenview Medical, 22275 Alessandro Blvd, Moreno Valley CA 92553

Palm Springs/Coachella Valley MAPP meeting – Saturday, January 5 at 12 noon - Meeting to take place at Crystal Fantasy, 268 N. Palm Canyon, downtown Palm Springs 92262.

Joshua Tree/Morongo Basin MAPP meeting - Saturday, January 5 at 3 p.m. -. Meeting takes place at the fabulous Beatnik Lounge, 61597 Twenty-Nine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree CA 92252.

Just before the clock strikes midnight on December 31, raise your left leg so that you will start off the year on the right foot.

Then continue 2019 on the right foot by joining MAPP’s 420 Club and donating $4.20 every month to keep us going throughout 2019.

From working with Riverside County to establish reasonable and workable regulations for cannabis businesses to protecting cannabis consumers from losing their jobs for using legal cannabis, MAPP is there. Please help us be there for you.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MAPP'S 420 CLUB

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION

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Is Marijuana Prohibition Coming to an End?

Although President Trump attempted to put a positive spin on the outcome of the November 6 election, there was no getting around the fact that the equation in Washington DC has undergone a major change.  Although the Senate remains in control by the Republicans, the Democrats picked up an impressive 39 seats in the House of Representatives.

Being in control of the House gives the Democrats tremendous clout as under the Constitution, they now have the exclusive authority to initiate tax and spending legislation. Other powers the Democrats didn’t have but now do is the ability to summon cabinet officers and other officials to appear before various House committees to explain and defend Executive policy, rule making, conduct and more.

Oh, oh - they also now have the power to initiate impeachment proceedings.

Most importantly as far as cannabis consumers are concerned is that they now have the power to not only introduce legislation but to get it out of committee and onto the floor for a vote. Except for continuing to remain a part of the bi-partisan coalition behind the Rohrabacher/Farr amendment (now the Rohrabacher/Blumenauer amendment after Rep. Sam Farr retired) which began back in the days of President Obama and prevents the Department of Justice from spending any money to enforce federal marijuana law in states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana and enacted a state regulatory program, the Republicans have done essentially nothing during the two years in which they had total and complete control over both the Legislative and Executive branches of government.

With the Republicans in control of the House, marijuana reform legislation never made it to the House floor as Republican representative Pete Sessions used his position as Chairman of the House Rules Committee to block House floor members from voting on over three-dozen cannabis related bills and amendments. Sessions blocked a number of popular, bipartisan-led reforms — such as facilitating medical cannabis access to military veterans and amending federal banking laws so that licensed marijuana businesses are treated like other legal industries.

If Session had allowed these bills to be sent to the floor for a vote, the vast majority of Democrats and about 1/3 of the Republicans would have supported them giving them enough votes to be passed. But he didn’t so they couldn't.

Rep. Sessions was caught by the blue-wave and failed in his re-election bid for Texas’ 32nd Congressional District, being defeated by Democratic challenger Colin Allred. As noted by former Republican Representative Bob Barr on FOX News, “the question of marijuana legalization appears to have been a factor in his race.” Sessions received an F grade in NORML’s latest Congressional Scorecard. By contrast, Allred received a B+ grade as a result of his stated support for cannabis decriminalization and medical marijuana access.

Chairperson of the House Rules Committee is one of the most powerful chairpersonships in Congress and it will not go to a freshman like Allred. That position is going to Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) which portends good times ahead.

With McGovern as chairperson, 2019 may very well be the year the cannabis paradigm undergoes a seismic shift as reform legislation is expected to move forward in the now Democratic-led House of Representatives.

The Boston Globe reported that McGovern has promised to permit federal lawmakers to debate and vote on marijuana-related amendments when he assumes control of the Committee in January. “Unlike my predecessor, I’m not going to block amendments for marijuana. Citizens are passing ballot initiatives, legislatures are passing laws, and we need to respect that. Federal laws and statutes are way behind.”

Rep. McGovern intends to prioritize legislative measures that limit federal interference in legal marijuana states, expand medical cannabis access for veterans and amend federal banking restrictions on the legal cannabis industry.

Can we trust Democrats to do what they say? With the Party’s platform and almost two-thirds of Democrats across the county in support of marijuana legalization, I expect we can.

That doesn’t mean we should let our guard down and take a Pollyanna attitude. We need to hold Dems’ feet to the fire and that means letting your Congressional Reps, whether they are Democrat or Republican, know of your support of marijuana reform legislation. That means taking some of your precious time to send letters and emails, phone their offices and absolutely best of all if you want to make your voice heard for sure, making in-person visits to their offices and speaking up at their town hall meetings.

Of course the fly in the ointment is that the Senate is still in control of the Republicans. It’s not that the reform legislation wouldn’t pass in the Senate – it would as there are enough Democrats and Republicans who support marijuana reform to get it passed, but Republican leadership may prevent it from going to the floor for a vote.

Foreshadowing Senate Republican leadership antipathy to marijuana reform legislation is the reaction of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform bill that has bipartisan support including the support of President Trump.

The House passed a version of the First Step Act in spring, but the House version was limited to reforms on the “back end,” such as slightly increasing good time credits for federal prisoners and providing higher levels of reentry and rehabilitation services.

Revised in the Senate, the First Step Act now lowers mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses, reduces life sentences for drug offenders with three convictions (“three strikes”) to 25 years, allows thousands of prisoners sentenced for crack cocaine offenses to petition for a reduced sentence and provides enhanced services for reentry and rehabilitation programs.

Just because McConnell has come to his senses regarding industrial hemp doesn’t necessarily portend well for ending federal marijuana prohibition as McConnell’s support for hemp is due to the financial desperation Kentucky’s farmers are undergoing as the nation continues its revulsion to tobacco.

McConnell, claiming there isn’t enough time to bring the bill to the floor, said he will not allow the bill to be voted on this year. His claims of not enough time is bogus and showcases his antagonism to any criminal justice reform legislation even when supported by a bi-partisan coalition of Senators and the President. This is not a good omen for marijuana reform legislation that makes it out of the House and into the Senate.

Since marijuana legalization is now supported by a majority of Americans including Republicans, there is always the possibility that McConnell and other Senate Republicans might come to their senses especially when they recognize that stakes for Republicans in the Senate for being re-elected are very problematic. In 2020 there will be 20 Republicans up for re-election and only 12 Democrats almost the reverse of this year when 26 Democratic Senate seats were up for election and only 9 Republicans.

Could marijuana be a factor in which party takes control? If House Democrats fail to pass marijuana reform legislation or if Senate Republicans fail to pass the legislation sent from the House or if President Trump veto’s these bills, then it most surely will be a major issue for the House, the Senate and the Presidency in 2020.

Will 2019 be a banner year for marijuana law reform or will it fall victim to machinations of timid Democrats and reefer mad Republicans? Whatever happens will be fascinating to watch and even more exciting to get down in the trenches and be involved in.

GETTING DOWN IN THE TRENCHES AT DECEMBER MAPP MEETINGS

All three December MAPP meetings will be about gearing up to end marijuana prohibition once and for all. Up for discussion and analysis will be what bills will most likely be considered in 2019, what the legislative path will be, who in Congress will be supportive and who will be opposed to reason and common sense.

2019 may be the year that the feds get out of the marijuana prohibition business – it could happen and will be more likely if you get involved. If you live in the IE or just happen to be visiting, join us at the MAPP meeting nearest you.

Plus win one of two silicone pipes plus network with friends and enjoy a delightful assortment of cookies with milk at each meeting.

Palm Springs/Coachella Valley MAPP meeting - December 1 at 12 noon - Meeting to take place at Crystal Fantasy, 268 N. Palm Canyon, downtown Palm Springs 92262.

Joshua Tree/Morongo Basin MAPP meeting - Saturday, December 1 at 3 p.m. -. Meeting takes place at the fabulous Beatnik Lounge, 61597 Twenty-Nine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree CA 92252.

Moreno Valley/Western IE MAPP meeting - Wednesday, December 5 at 7:30 p.m. -. Meeting takes place at Greenview Medical, 22275 Alessandro Blvd, Moreno Valley CA 92553.

It's almost winter! Time to kick back with a steaming cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a bowl of quality bud in the other and JOIN OUR 420 CLUB

Just $4.20 a month helps MAPP keep you informed protecting your right to safe, reliable, local and affordable access to marijuana in winter, spring, summer and fall.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MAPP'S 420 CLUB

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 Judge guts Fontana personal cultivation ordinance

Celebrate at MAPP meet

A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge has eviscerated an ordinance enacted by the city of Fontana that was so onerous and restrictive that it was effectively a defacto ban. In the two years it was in force, not one single resident applied for a permit to cultivate six plants indoors as permitted under Prop. 64.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of Fontana resident Michael Harris by the Drug Policy Alliance and the ACLU contended that the ordinance contradicts state law, sets unreasonable personal conduct and growing space restrictions and charges an arbitrarily high fee to obtain and renew a permit. With the ACLU and a team of lawyers from O’Melveny and Meyers, one of the largest and most respected law firms in California, representing Harris, the suit is the first legal test of how far a California city or county can go in restricting a residents’ right to grow six plants as permitted by Prop. 64.

That the intent of the Fontana ordinance was to restrict rather than regulate was made clear in January when Fontana City Manager Ken Hunt told council members “It is our intent behind this that this ordinance is not a permissive regulation, it is a restrictive regulation, By adopting this, you are placing more restrictions on the personal growth of marijuana.”

Prop. 64 does give cities and counties authority to ban all marijuana businesses but they cannot ban personal indoor cultivation of six plants. They cannot limit or undo by restrictive regulations the legal right of adults to cultivate marijuana in their homes for their own personal use.

Of particular concern was that Fontana’s ordinance made it a misdemeanor to grow six plants at home without a permit., thereby criminalizing the very conduct that Prop. 64 had made legal.

On  Friday, October 26 Judge David Cohn released his ruling in which he agreed with the plaintiffs that the ordinance was too restrictive and was not "reasonable" as required by Prop. 64. Among the many provisions the judged tossed included the need to have a separate room for growing cannabis, paying for fingerprinting/background checks, having no felony convictions within the previous five years, having no outstanding payments due to the city, obtaining a landlord’s permission to grow as well as the permitting fee itself.

Elucidating on the portion of the ordinance requiring a separate room for growing marijuana, Judge Cohn pointed out that the requirement would restrict cultivation only to people wealthy enough to have a room in their homes that can be set aside specifically for growing.

Judge Cohen admonished Jeff Dunn, the attorney for BB&K representing Fontana (who was also the same attorney in the lawsuit filed by Riverside against the Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center  which resulted in the disastrous California Supreme Court decision that cities could ban medical marijuana dispensaries under their zoning ordinances) that the only restriction Prop. 64 put in place for the personal cultivation of marijuana was that the person had to be at least 21 years of age.

In his tentative ruling before the final ruling was released, Judge Cohn had stated that “What the city has done here with its ordinance is it has completely prohibited certain persons who are 21 years of age from possessing the six plants. The city has narrowed the population of who can do this.”

For Fontana to put in place any further restrictions on who could and could not grow, such as not allowing anyone who owed any money to Fontana or didn’t have a spare room to cultivate marijuana in, is impermissible and violates the intent of the voters when they passed Prop. 64.

Although Fontana could rewrite the ordinance in a way that it could be compliant with the Judge Cohn’s ruling, that is unlikely as that would require the city to write reasonable regulations that would allow Fontana residents to grow marijuana essentially free from any interference from the city.

Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren acknowledged that the ordinance had been intentionally drawn up to make it as difficult as possible to grow marijuana as “This town has been a town of safety. And we’re trying with this initiative to make sure that we keep our residents safe — particularly our young people,”

Fontana has ­­­­­60 days to file an appeal after the court enters its final judgement which should happen fairly soon. It is expected that Fontana will appeal all the way to the California  Supreme Court. Although it is hoped that this case will eventually serve as an example of what cities can and cannot do in regulating personal cultivation, the answer is at least one year away and maybe longer.

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Frightening Halloween tales of goblins, witches and vampires may send shivers down the spines of children, but pale in comparison to the fear of marijuana coursing through the minds of adults from the tales of savagery, debauchery and horror pedaled by U.S. government anti-drug warriors and their paid researchers.

In the 1920s most Americans had no idea that the cannabis sold at their local corner drugstore was the demon weed “marijuana” that early prohibitionists like our first “drug czar” Henry Anslinger labeled as the “most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”

Rising from the ashes of the Bureau of Prohibition, Anslinger was determined to make his Bureau of Narcotics a powerhouse police agency of munificent proportions. Newspapers and movie newsreels gave headline treatment to his frightening tales that “Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its user’s insanity, criminality, and death” and that “You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.”

Openly skeptical of Anslinger’s claims, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, commissioned a study in 1939 on “The Marijuana Problem in the City of New York.”

Known as the LaGuardia report, the study, which was undertaken by the New York Academy of Medicine and published in 1944, found that smoking marijuana did not lead to addiction or the use of harder drugs, did not cause violent, anti-social behavior or uncontrolled sexual urges and that “The publicity concerning the catastrophic effects of marijuana smoking in New York City is unfounded.”

The report was given little notice in the media. Anslinger’s lies about marijuana continued to flourish even after his retirement in 1962 evidenced by the Outstanding Record Citation bestowed on him by President John Kennedy.

Although the government no longer peddles Anslinger’s murder, mayhem and insanity tales as the boogey-man of marijuana, it now peddles fake and faulty science. The most often sited scary health story that even some respectable medical researchers accept is that since smoking marijuana produces similar carcinogens as when tobacco is smoked, smoking marijuana causes lung cancer.

Believing the connection to be there and looking forward to the publication of the definitive scholarly paper connecting marijuana to lung cancer, the National Institute for Drug Abuse provided Dr. Donald Tashkin, a renowned pulmonologist and researcher at the UCLA School of Medicine, with so much money that he undertook one of the largest population based studies ever conducted on the relationship of marijuana to lung cancer.

Not only did his research not find any connection between smoking marijuana and lung cancer, his paper was one of the first to present evidence that marijuana reduces the incidence of cancer. One of the groups in the study showed that the people who smoke marijuana had a lower incidence of lung cancer than people who did not smoke anything at all.

Another oft repeated your-gonna-die scare story is that smoking marijuana can lead to heart attacks. The government continues to peddle that tale even though the authors of the original study claiming a link to a slight increase in susceptibility to heart attacks repudiated the study. In a subsequent publication the authors wrote that the reported increase “did not reach nominal statistical significance” – i.e. there was no increase.

A New Zealand study that claimed children who smoke marijuana had an 8 point lower IQ score than children who had not smoked marijuana is the nexus for the government’s “it-will-make-you-stupid” tale to scare parents and children stupid enough to fall for this line.  Except that a subsequent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported the original study was faulty as the fall in IQ is more likely correlated with socio-economic status than marijuana use.

Whether it is for funding their own police agencies or to prevent a viable product from competing with the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical and alcohol industries, the Reefer-Madness crowd for over 80 years has spread tales of mayhem, murder, heart attacks and stupidity.

They have never been concerned with science, compassion or common sense. Just like the age-old Halloween stories of ghosts, gremlins and demons told to innocent and gullible children, they will continue fermenting scary tales of marijuana forewarning of tokes in the night and marijuana under the bed.

What's Happening, Why It's Happening plus Friends, Networking and Win a Genuine Silicone Pipe at

NOVEMBER MAPP MEETINGS

Palm Springs/Coachella Valley MAPP meeting - Saturday, November 3 at 12 noon - Riverside County passed its ordinance to allow marijuana businesses on Oct. 23. It is a complex ordinance but it is workable and might actually result in a lower county taxes/fees than anywhere else in California. If you have any desire to get into the marijuana business in Riverside County, here's the information you need. Meeting to take place at Crystal Fantasy, 268 N. Palm Canyon, downtown Palm Springs 92262.

Joshua Tree/Morongo Basin MAPP meeting - Saturday, November 3 at 3 p.m. - With 1/3 of California cities and counties now allowing cannabis businesses and with 82 cannabis-related ballot measures slated to go before voters in cities and counties around the state, why is so little happening in San Bernardino County. Join us for an analysis of the paralysis in SB County and let's see if we can figure out what can be done about it. Meeting takes place at the fabulous Beatnik Lounge, 61597 Twenty-Nine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree CA 92252. The meeting always ends at 4:20 and, if you would like to join in, everyone is welcome to dine with us after the meeting at Shaos Asian Buffet in Yucca Valley.

Moreno Valley/Western IE MAPP meeting - Wednesday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m. - Will we be celebrating or will we be commiserating? With ballot measures to legalize recreational and medical marijuana in half-a-dozen states and the subject of marijuana a central issue in many elections, a review of the election results from November 6 will be undertaken with an analysis of what the election results portend for marijuana law reform. Meeting takes place at Greenview Medical, 22275 Alessandro Blvd, Moreno Valley CA 92553.

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Riverside County “to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

Riverside County is about to take another big semi- step toward implementing regulations for cannabis businesses in its unincorporated areas with a hearing by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Oct. 23.

Enacting the business provisions allowed for in Prop. 64, the 62 page ordinance covers everything from cultivation to sales with a complex licensing system, bureaucratic regulations and a financing program that is so byzantine that the County still has no idea what it will look like, how it will operate and what it will even do.

In many ways the ordinance is a boiler-plate repetition of the various licensing and regulation schemes already enacted in about a third of California’s counties and cities. Lots of hoops to jump through but not any more onerous than those found in most other ordinances.

One of the more controversial provisions is over where marijuana can be cultivated. Large rural areas that are designated rural residential and rural agricultural are being denied the right to commercially cultivate. A lot of people with large amounts of acreage feel this is wrong and negatively impacts their ability to earn a living and even more importantly the value of their land. This will be one of the sections that will be hotly contested at the October 23 BOS hearing.

As I have discussed in previous emails what makes the Riverside County cannabis ordinance different in a major way from ALL other cannabis business ordinances in California is it money-raising provisions. Rather than utilizing a license and tax system that is used by every other city and county currently allowing cannabis businesses, the Riverside County ordinance calls for a Developer’s Agreement.

A Development Agreement requires Riverside County to make a separate agreement with each applicant for a marijuana license whether it is for cultivation, manufacture or distribution. There is no such thing as a cookie-cutter Development Agreement - a separate and unique agreement with each cultivator, manufacturer and retailer must be created.

Politicians love Developer Agreements as they impose a “community benefit fee” which is not considered a tax and does not need a vote of the people which would be required by Prop. 218 if it was a tax.

Since any kind of assessment based on sales is a tax, the multi-million dollar question then is how do you use a Developer Agreement to get money if you cannot impose a tax? If the “fee” looks like a tax, walks like a tax and smells like a tax then it is a tax and bypassing a vote by calling a tax a “community benefit fee” or any other name is forbidden by Prop. 218.

This is why there is not a single Developer Agreement model being used anywhere in California for any municipality that is licensing anything more than just a couple dispensaries. Stanislaus County is the only other county that is trying to use a Developer’s Agreement but after close to a year trying to make it work, the County still has no working model of what a “community benefit fee” will be or more importantly what the “base rate” (how much businesses will pay) will be.

Neither does Riverside County. What will happen on Tuesday, Oct. 23 is that if the BOS approves the ordinance then the County will begin a study to determine what the “community benefit fee” and “base rate” will be. This “community benefit fee” is no small appendage to the ordinance. It is the heart and soul of the ordinance and what the “community benefit fee” and “base rate” is and how it is implemented will be the major determinant if the ordinance succeeds or fails.

Palm Desert, a city of 48,000, will vote on a cannabis business tax on Nov. 6. It is estimated to take in about $5.5 million in taxes each year. Unincorporated Riverside County has a population of approximately 360,000 or seven times the size of Palm Desert. If Riverside Co. taxed cannabis businesses at the same rate as Palm Desert, the County would take in over $38 million dollars a year. Can a community benefit fee bring in an equal amount?

Maybe we have a very unusual situation here in that the Riverside Co. BOS realizes that cannabis is so critical for the health and welfare of the community that consumers should not have to pay high taxes for this product. BTW the sun is coming up in the west tomorrow.

According to an email I received from Charissa Leach, assistant director of Riverside County’s Transportation and Land Management agency, the community benefit fee “determination will be made if and after the Board approves the Ordinance.  If the Board approves a contract with HdL Consultants (a private consulting firm) and if the Board approves the Ordinance it will be effective 60-days after approval.  During those 60-days we will be working with HdL to determine the Base Rate.”.

Here’s where it gets really weird. As if using the word “business” is verboten when applied to cannabis, Ms. Leach used the word “project” instead of “business” when referring to an individual cannabis business writing “each project will propose how they will contribute to the community that they are impacting, working with the community and the County to come up with a negotiated Additional Public Benefit.  It is intended that this Additional Public Benefit will be negotiated on a project specific basis, looking at the community where the project is located and the needs of that community.”

Could you even begin to imagine the complexity, volumes of paperwork and bureaucratic entanglements that would be involved if every business in Riverside County had to go through the above in order to obtain a business license – business activity would grind to a halt!

A Developer’s Agreement is a guaranteed full employment program for lawyers. Applied to an entire industry and not to just a very singular and unusual business activity (which is what Developer Agreements were created for) is absurd, unworkable and just plain bizarre. Makes one wonder what the BOS have been drinking.

I have no idea how much money Riverside County is paying HdL to “invent the wheel,” but it will be interesting to see if the taxpayers get their money’s worth and HdL can find a way for Riverside County “to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

If the BOS approves the ordinance on Oct. 23, then it goes into effect on Dec. 24. Will HdL be able to "invent the wheel" in that 60 day period? It really would be great if they can, but holdings one's breath could be hazardous to your health. If they can't come up with a workable Developer's Agreement, then the ordinance will not go into effect and the ban on commercial marijuana businesses will remain in effect.

Not to be conspiratorial, but most of the members of the BOS were opposed to Prop. 64 even though the majority of Riverside County voters approved Prop. 64 and rightfully expect it to be fully implemented including allowing cannabis businesses to operate. Perhaps some of the BOS members have championed the Developer Agreement model knowing full well that it would fail thereby thwarting one of the major components of Prop. 64.  They could still claim that they were doing their best to implement its commercial business provisions and they are sincerely sorry that it didn't work out and the ban is still in effect.

If you want to read the ordinance and the hundreds of pages of staff reports, implementation processes, policies and all the other assorted bureaucratic folderol, CLICK HERE.

If you want to see what the fuss is all about, make a 3 minute presentation to the BOS of your opinion on the ordinance and witness real live BOS reefer madness, then mark your calendar for the Riverside County BOS meeting on Tuesday, October 23 at Riverside County Administration Center at 4080 Lemon St, Riverside, CA 92501.

The meeting starts at 9 a.m. but consideration of the ordinance is listed on the agenda for 10:30 a.m. It is possible the BOS may limit the number of speakers they will put up with, so if you want to testify, you might want to get there considerably earlier than 10:30 a.m. to sign up.

 Cannabis Voting Guides

For those voting by mail ballot in California, you should have received your ballot by now. If you have not already received it, you should in the next couple days. If you don’t have it by Monday, better contact your county registrar of voters to find out why you haven’t.

Excellent California voter guides have been issued by CaNORML and the Drug Policy Alliance. CaNORML has tailored the guide to the district in which you live. To get CaNORML’s voter guide customized for your area CLICK HERE. To get DPA’s more generalized voter guide, CLICK HERE.

Cannabis’s success in the 2018 California legislature was more negative than positive. With Gov. Brown vetoing quite a few of the bills that passed, the record was even more dismal.

Even worse has been our success on the local level with the majority of city councils and county boards refusing to implement ordinances to allow cannabis businesses and passing bans on outdoor personal cultivation.

The depressing record can be laid at the feet of the relative lack of clout cannabis businesses and consumers have on our elected officials whether on the state or local level. We need to do better in 2019. Who is elected to office makes a big difference – so check out the voter guides and then vote – your vote does make a difference. Get your family, friends, co-workers and the curmudgeon down the street to vote too – all your votes really make a difference.

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