Careful what you ask for, pot growers and sellers.
The good news was that California voters last year passed Prop. 64, legalizing recreational marijuana and opening up a mutlibillion-dollar market for folks making their living off of pot. The other news came this week, as state regulators released rules governing this burgeoning industry.
Two-hundred-and-seventy-six pages of rules to be exact.
As legal pot sales start in January for the first time, growers and sellers should keep this in mind: Stay 600 feet away from schools and day-care centers; no pot-dealing in strip clubs; no transporting the stuff in self-driving cars or bicycles; and never ever deliver your weed by drone.
And if you’re thinking of growing the stuff, be sure to have your “cannabis waste management plan” in order.
Those 276 pages are chock-full of some really boring stuff; your typical stoner would have trouble getting through the table of contents. But California’s regulators, including the Department of Food and Agriculture for cultivators, the Department of Public Health for manufacturers and the Department of Consumer Affair’s Bureau of Cannabis Control, did what regulators do best, writing volumes of rules governing every single nook and cranny of the marijuana business.
“I feel a big sigh of relief. It’s a big milestone for us to release these regulations,” said Lori Ajax, chief of the state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control. “But there’s still a lot of work to be done. No rest for the weary.”
Here are some of our favorite regulations. If you want to read more about these rules, click here:
- Cannabis businesses can’t be within 600 feet of a school or youth center;
- Shops have to close by 10 p.m. and they need 24-hour video surveillance;
- Edible products must be produced in serving sizes that have no more than 10 milligrams of THC, the chemical compound that produces that groovy feeling;
- Pot must be delivered by car and truck only, so no to drones, rail, aircraft, watercraft, rail or “human-powered vehicle;”
- Shopkeepers will only be allowed to give free cannabis products to medical patients or their caregivers;
- If you want to host a cannabis event at, say, the fairgrounds, you’ll need a special license;
- Through July 1, you can still sell untested products you’ve come up with – hash oil nougat bars, anyone? – but you need to either include a label stating so or put it in child-resistant packaging;
- You can advertise your goods, but only in outlets where at least 71.6 percent of the audience is ”reasonably expected to be 21 years of age or older;” (and good luck with that one)
- A controversial cap on how many small farms and nurseries people can own was removed, with some conditions, which means we’ll soon see huge pot-farming operations across the state;
- Get ready for the taxman: AP points out that while a small bag of good quality medical marijuana in Los Angeles now costs $35, in 2018, when recreational sales take hold and additional taxes kick in, the retail cost of that same purchase will jump to $50 or $60; at the high end, that’s about a 70% pop;
- Product labels shall not be decorated with cartoons or any other marketing that targets kids;
- Pot growers and manufacturers can’t use the term “candy” in any of their branding;
- Businesses can not mix pot with alcohol, nicotine, caffeine or seafood; (that’s right – seafood!)
- Products “cannot be (made) in the shape of a human being, animal, insect or fruit,” said Miren Klein of the Department of Public Health.
