Cannabis is becoming more legal all across our nation. Twenty-three states currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form. Even Washington, D.C. has an initiative on the November ballot that will make it legal to posses and cultivate marijuana for personal use. Seventeen more states have pro marijuana laws in process, including neighboring Oregon”s prop 91.
In 2016 there will be an initiative on the ballot in California that will make marijuana legal for adult use. Presented by the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform (CCPR) the initiative will regulate marijuana like alcohol, in fact the regulation will be done by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Then there is Washington and Colorado. These states have laws permitting sales of marijuana for recreational use in a highly regulated market place. In Colorado the first six months of recreational sales produced $13 million in new tax revenue, and there have been 10,000 new jobs created. Governor John Hickenlooper, who originally opposed the amendment, now attributes Colorado”s robust economic recovery to marijuana sales.
The Feds have agreed to not interfere in states with regulation, as outlined in a memo from the DOJ.
If you read only local news you see the continuing political disagreements, the back and forth that seems to distract our leaders from addressing more important issues for our county. Then there are press releases from the Lake County Sheriff, one farm after the other, how many plants they seized, how many guns or dogs they had, and all the asset forfeiture trophies.
So far our supervisors have lacked the creativity to come up with a solution that mitigates the negative impact of cultivation on our community, without instituting an all-out ban. Under the current law in Lake County less than 1 percent of parcels are legal to use for collective cannabis cultivation. Even patients who wish to grow their own must be fortunate enough to live on one acre or more outside of a Community Growth Boundary.
Lake County”s climate and landscape lend themselves to producing a top quality sun-grown medicine. The science suggests that sun-grown medicine is higher in CBD (cannabidiol) content than cannabis grown indoors. CBD extract is being used all over the world to cure epilepsy and other ailments.
Why should our community be denied the revenue, jobs and economic opportunity that follows everywhere legal marijuana goes? Measure O on the November ballot is the only compromise being offered to our community. Measure O is the only option presented that tries to balance the needs of the community, with an emerging industry, poised to bring an economic windfall to Lake County.
Cannabis is not a crime, cannabis is an opportunity. Measure O is a positive step forward.
Michael Horner, Cobb
