Home > Policy & Advocacy > Action Center > Past Items > 2015 > AB 266 (Bonta) Medical Cannabis
Regulates medical marijuana in a manner that protects local control, addresses public safety concerns, and enhances health and safety standards.
Letter will be sent to: Assembly Member Rob Bonta
Dear Assembly Member Bonta,
On behalf of the CITY OF CITY, I am pleased to announce our support of Assembly Bill 266. There is a pressing need for a robust regulatory and enforcement framework in the wake of clear signals from the U.S. Department of Justice that such a framework be established in any state allowing medical marijuana. Although initially presented to voters as another medical remedy for patients in need, the implementation of Proposition 215 has been marked by chaos, defined by no statewide regulatory framework in the nearly twenty years since, and period litigation on the meaning of the initiative and the extent of local control. Among the most challenging issues with the Medical Marijuana Program in California are the non-existent quality controls for consumers with respect to potency and the presence of pesticides, rodenticides and other contaminants, and virtually unregulated retail outlets and cultivation sites that may attract criminal activity. Assembly Bill 266 establishes an improved regulatory structure to ensure that Prop. 215 works as originally envisioned to assist patients with legitimate medical needs, in a manner that comports with the needs of law enforcement, local governments, patient advocates, local community organizations, and medical professionals. While the CITY OF CITY remains in support of this measure today, a number is issues must be resolved in order for our future support to be assured. Specifically, disqualifying felonies for licensure, the extent of restrictions on vertical integration, and addressing questions of patient access, to name a few, are provisions that remain to be resolved. The CITY OF CITY remains in support of this measure pending resolution of these and other issues.