Jerry Brown’s Last-Minute Medical Marijuana Regs

With just under two weeks remaining in the legislative session, California Gov. Jerry Brown is working to craft what would become the first statewide regulations for medical marijuana.

While details on the exact nature of the regulations remain scarce, the Sacramento Bee reports that aides in Brown’s office are working hard to pass a “compromise” medical marijuana measure before the end of the session.

The legislation would create the first uniform, statewide regulations on medical marijuana in California since the drug was first legalized for medical purposes under the state’s Proposition 215 in 1996. Medical marijuana dispensaries in cities across California currently operate under confusing and oftentimes conflicting local ordinances regulating their operation.

Assemblyman Ken Cooley (D-Rancho Cordova) told the Bee that the governor’s office has been “very heavily involved,” spending 12 hours last weekend attempting to broker workable legislation.

According to the Bee, one point of contention with the new proposal is whether a new agency would have to be created to oversee the regulations. One idea reportedly calls for the creation of a “Governor’s Office of Marijuana” to oversee the regulations, but Cooley told the paper that Brown may be more inclined to entrust enforcement and oversight to another state agency.

Brown’s eagerness to put statewide medical marijuana regulations on the books comes as activists gear up to place full legalization measures on the 2016 ballot. At least one measure, the Responsible Use Act of 2016, was cleared in June to collect the signatures necessary for ballot placement in 2016.