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Advocates in California are celebrating the golden anniversary of marijuana decriminalization in the state, noting that it was 50 years ago\u2014on July 9, 1975\u2014that then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill into law that reduced the state\u2019s felony possession law down to a citable misdemeanor, punishable by a $100 fine and no jail time.<\/p>\n
Sponsored by then-Sen. George Moscone (D) and known as the Moscone Act, the law \u201cresulted in an 80% reduction in felony marijuana arrests, saving the state an estimated $100 million per year in enforcement costs, and saving well over a million users from a criminal record over the years\u201d according to the advocacy group California NORML.<\/p>\n
Prior to the law taking effect, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana was punishable by two to 10 years behind bars.<\/p>\n
The Moscone Act was passed in the wake of a number of unsuccessful efforts to reform the state\u2019s cannabis laws, California NORML explained in a press release this week, perhaps most notably the 1972 California Marijuana Initiative (CMI), described as \u201cthe world\u2019s first ballot initiative to legalize the personal use and cultivation of marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among CMI\u2019s backers were California NORML director Gordon Brownell and Michael Aldrich, co-founder of the group Amorphia, which financed the initiative by selling rolling papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery county had a coordinator gathering volunteers. We had 20,000 people circulating the initiative\u2014no paid signatures,\u201d Aldrich said in a statement. \u201cNo one ever recognized there was such an electoral group out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the measure failed, it performed better than expected and propelled organizers to lobby for the Moscone Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CMI formed the basis for a statewide reform movement that has existed ever since,\u201d Brownell said.<\/p>\n
Initially the Moscone Act included cultivation in the reform, as well as a higher possession limit, but in order to win passage by the legislature, proponents dropped homegrow and lowered the possession limit from three ounces to one.<\/p>\n
The 50th anniversary of the Moscone Act\u2014which became the foundation for later legal reforms in the state\u2014will be the subject of a cannabis exhibit in Sacramento later this month at the California State Fair.<\/p>\n
The July 19 event will feature interviews with Brownell and Aldrich as well as felony marijuana arrestees slated to discuss how the drug war impacted their lives and their families, Cal NORML said in its release<\/a>.<\/p>\n The group noted that the state fair this year will for the second time host an on-site consumption area<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the fourth year that California\u2019s annual event has invited marijuana entrepreneurs and consumers to join the festivities\u2014and, for the second year in a row, on-site sales and consumption will be permitted<\/p>\n A recent state-funded study found that more than a third of California adults are current cannabis consumers, and the vast majority of them say marijuana provides health benefits<\/a>\u2014regardless of whether or not they are specifically using it for medical purposes.<\/p>\n Lead author Linda Hill, a UC San Diego medical professor, said the study \u201cprovides the first comprehensive understanding of cannabis use patterns in California since the implementation of Proposition 64\u2033\u2014the 2016 voter-approved law that legalized marijuana for adults in the state.<\/p>\n Meanwhile in California, state officials are inviting research proposals for a second round of grants under a program meant to better educate the public on the state\u2019s marijuana law and help policymakers make informed decisions on the issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n For the new $30 million round of the grant program, which is funded by marijuana tax revenue, DCC said it is prioritizing proposals in research areas including educational methods of improving public health and safety, crop yields, state and local marijuana policies, consumer preferences, environmental sustainability and other topics.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a time when the federal government is pulling back funding for cannabis-related research, California is stepping up,\u201d DCC Director Nicole Elliott said in a press release last month.<\/p>\n Some operators in the state, however, say a recent tax hike \u201ccould kill this industry.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Separately, the state\u2019s Senate recently advanced a bill that includes provisions to ratify a labor agreement ending random drug tests for marijuana among correctional officers<\/a> in the state\u2019s prison system.<\/p>\n As part of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would be ratified by the measure, which cleared the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee in a unanimous 17-0 vote last Monday, most correctional officers would no longer be randomly tested for cannabis or penalized over off-duty use.<\/p>\n The post Activists Celebrate 50 Years Of Marijuana Decriminalization In California<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Advocates in California are celebrating the golden anniversary of marijuana decriminalization in the state, noting that it was 50 years ago\u2014on July 9, 1975\u2014that then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill into law that reduced the state\u2019s felony possession law down to a citable misdemeanor, punishable by a $100 fineContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":82148,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82149,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82147\/revisions\/82149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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