KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Santa Clarita City Council is expected to endorse Assembly Bill 266, which would provide a statewide framework for medical marijuana to preserve “local control” — not to bring dispensaries to the SCV any time soon, officials said Monday.
Sponsored Articles
AB 266 addresses a lot of the shortcomings of Proposition 215, a voter initiative passed in 1996 that created the Compassionate Use Act and legalized medicinal marijuana, said Randy Perry, a lobbyist for the Peace Officers Research Association of California, which endorsed the measure.
The bill, co-authored by Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-38, calls for a Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation, background checks for dispensary owners, a system, including apprenticeship and certification for cannabis employees and, perhaps most importantly for local leaders, the ability to opt in to the system or opt out.
“California is generally out in front on most issues, and (PORAC) thought, ‘This is the way it’s going in the near future,’ and polling kind of confirmed that,” Perry explained during the KHTS AM-1220 road trip in March. “Therefore, they thought, ‘We can either sit and fight it and put our heads in the sand, or you can get out there, and get as much regulatory framework involved, taxation, things that are going to protect (the community).’”
One of the largest concerns for the group, Perry said, is Proposition 215 only contains a few paragraphs, and offers little guidance for cities and counties throughout the state.
“The government has no business in any way, shape or form in trying to advocate for or make a business out of this drug,” said Santa Clarita City Councilman Bob Kellar, a retired LAPD officer with 25 years experience. “You can do all of the fantasy you want. Out of all my years of working the streets, every time I arrested someone for major drugs, they always started with marijuana. When people say, ‘It’s not a big deal’ — I disagree.”
The bill’s co-author, Lackey, who also represents a portion of the Santa Clarita Valley, is also a retired law enforcement officer, but with the California Highway Patrol.
Both Kellar and TimBen Boydston, the other member of Santa Clarita City Council on the Legislative Subcommittee that made the recommendation to support the bill, stated their support was about preserving local control.
“Local control is taken away all the time when they make the statewide law,” Boydston said, “but this is the idea that we should be able to craft our own destiny.”
Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.
As one who finds it very helpful for my medical condition, I agree we need reform of the laws. And one of the reforms should be that our medical doctor can prescribe it so we can get a license. I had to go to a “which doctor” to get a license, taking information from my regular doctor.
C’mon people! We need at least one green cross in Santa Clarita.
Funny he does not ask if those criminals started with alcohol. I imagine he probably would not like for us to go back to prohibition. I have little doubt he drinks like most law enforcement. Very selective thinking from a closed mind.
As a 30 year Fire Fighter, the majority of the emergency responds I’ve witnessed, involving deadly traffic accident, 90% of them were due to alcohol use and rarely if any, due to marijuana use. Alcohol, in my professional opinion, is far more hazardous than marijuana.