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  Bill To Oversee Medical Pot in Calif.
Posted by CN Staff on February 13, 2011 at 13:36:06 PT
By UPI 
Source: United Press International 

medical Sacramento -- A California assemblyman says he wants to propose a marijuana bill creating a state oversight program regulating all aspects of the medical marijuana industry.

Democrat Tom Ammiano of San Francisco said his proposal "omnibus cannabis bill" regulating the dispensaries of medical marijuana and all aspects of delivering the product to legal medicinal users.

Under current California law, medical marijuana dispensaries must run as non-profit "collectives" of registered medical marijuana patients who reimburse the establishments for their supply costs of pot.

But as The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee reported Sunday, California's medical marijuana industry provides the state's lagging economy with approximately $1.3 billion in transactions, paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries, rent and overhead costs.

Ammiano said because attitudes towards the medical marijuana industry vary in California from city to city, the Legislature needs to clarify the rules. The dispensaries are welcomed in some places and raided in others.

"You can't just go in with guns and arrest people," said Lauren Vasquez, Silicon Valley director for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group.

"In the context of suspicion by law enforcement, I think we need a cohesive response," Ammiano said.

Sacramento attorney George Mull, who represents medical marijuana dispensaries in several California cities, argues the state should sanction a for-profit medical marijuana industry, saying that model could drive prices down ending confusion that triggers police raids.

But Cindy Besemer, the chief deputy district attorney in Sacramento County, said a for-profit distribution program is unlikely to be embraced by law enforcement.

"I certainly would say we don't believe in retail sales," she said. "That's drug dealing. I don't care how it comes down to it. That's what it is."

Source: United Press International (Wire)
Published: February 13, 2011
Copyright 2011 United Press International
Website: http://www.upi.com/
Contact: nationaldesk@upi.com
URL: http://drugsense.org/url/hPslXsXE

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