California Gets Ready for Legal Marijuana

New regulations on growth, transport, and sale of cannabis anticipates a 2016 ballot initiative.

California set the stage for marijuana legalization as the first state in America to legalize the drug for medical use. Last October, the Golden State passed a series of laws that will create a regulatory system for recreational cannabis if voters make it legal in 2016.

Reason TV travelled to Oaksterdam University, the nation's premier cannabis cultivation school, where many of the political activists pushing an upcoming ballot initiative held a meeting to finalize language and debate some of the finer points of legalization.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oaksterdam? Oh, I get it. Higher education, indeed.

[C. Anacreon]

"Oakster, Oakster ......Damn Damn Damn!
Oakster, Oakster ......Damn Damn Damn!
They all went down to Oaksterdam."

/Oakland-area girl scouts & jump-rope song

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Shut up you hippie.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Fist's not here, man.

[np]

Where are the Oaksterdam cheerleaders? I am disappoint.

Semi-related: I was reading an article about racing on Pikes Peak when I came across this interesting comment about weed and riding sport bikes hard:
http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.c.....1748494842

[GILMORE?]

I'd buy that.

people who are already very-good at things are generally still very-good (if not better) when baked. It relaxes you but doesn't dull your reflexes. It can allow for deep concentration and eliminate distractions. its why improvisational musicians have always loved weed - it reduces the instinct to 'halt and think' between phrases, and gives you the balls to just plow ahead.

I knew a guy who solo-bouldered while high. I thought that was stupid, but to each their own. As long as you're not putting anyone else at risk, rock on. My buddy who was a competitive mogul skier also always got baked before runs. For some people its just part of doing what they do best.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

so goes California, so goes the country, even the rest of world

I think some of the country is already ahead, as is some of the world. Didn't Portugal decriminalize all drugs recently?

[Winston]

So going bankrupt and having Communists in power?

[Winston]

So going bankrupt and having Communists in power?

[Suthenboy]

No, I think we beat the Portuguese to the punch on those already.

[Sevo]

OT: Drone grabbers win one:

"FAA now requires all drones (even that one you got for Christmas) to be registered"
[...]
"If you received a drone for Christmas this year, there's one important step in the setup process you don't want to forget: registering it with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)."
http://blog.sfgate.com/techchr.....egistered/

[Mr Lizard]

I would be surprised if their website can handle enthusiastic compliance. In fact in my old life we used to call it malicious compliance...

[Suthenboy]

One more chance to fuck with people and take their money.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I have 2. Well dang, I just haven't gotten around to it.

Lemme know how congress votes on it.

[Suthenboy]

They did. A classic. They said drones need to be regulated and tasked the FAA with setting up a scheme, abdicating the responsibility to nameless, unaccountable bureaucrats. The FAA sat on it and did exactly nothing until well past the deadline congress gave them.

I get the distinct impression that the FAA doesnt want drones in any hands except government hands.

Also, which ones do you have, and how do you like them? I am in the market.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Get the Phantom 3 standard. 20+ minutes of flight time. I have Phantoms 1 and 3. The Phantom 1 was brand new 4 years ago, and things got better.

And the best part: Phantom 3 has FPV (first person video) downlinked to your smartphone or iPad. You can fly it without line of sight. That's good for 3/4 of a mile or so.

[Suthenboy]

That is what I had in mind. Thank you. It is good to get an endorsement from someone who has one.

I am facing a dilemma. My discretionary funds allow me to buy either an M1A, mags and ammo or a Phantom 3. What to do...what to do...

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

The drone is just like a gun. You'll take it apart, clean it, customize it, and find ways to make it better. I had my phantom 1 looking like a UFO at night. There are so many things you can do with it.

[Rhywun]

Nerds. Admit it - it's like a video game come to life?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Yes. With voyeurism.

[Robert]

What'll be the next substance to go thru this process of acceptance, & how many generations will it take?

[Robert]

Remember 40 yrs. ago when cocaine was thought to be not far behind cannabis in gaining acceptance? What would people bet on today?

Unfortunately it might have to be nicotine on the rebound. More optimistically it could be (esp. if the pop. continues to age) narcotic analgesics making a rx-to-otc switch, or it could be some hallucinogen. I sure hope it's not liquor again.

[Suthenboy]

I would prefer that self-ownership and it's resultant philosophy became widely accepted. Until that happens it won't matter what single issue trends in and out of popularity.

I believe it was you that pointed out earlier today that principle is never enough to sustain a movement, only self interest ever is. If liberty is ever to win out each issue must be approached from that angle.

[Sevo]

Hey, Suthen!
Thanks for the hint; spent an enjoyable time with my buddy in the North West and learned why that looks like a real trash pile of ship screws is what it is.
Sorta like aircraft props, but amazingly complicated by the (variable) viscosity of water, hull shape, mounting position/arrangement and of course ship speed, prop-shaft RPM.
Some is still beyond solid science and the experiments continue, to the delight of some designers and the dismay of others.

[Suthenboy]

"...to the dismay of others."

This made me laugh. There are always people who want to believe that the science is settled, particularly if they had something to do with the science themselves.

Once upon a time I was acquainted with a guy who made a career out of studying bubbles (floatation process in mining). It is an amazingly complex subject and that is what inspired my comment about fluid mechanics. I figured screw design would be an equally complex and important subject.

[Rhywun]

What'll be the next substance to go thru this process of acceptance

Tobacco?

[Rhywun]

Or wut Robert said.

[Sevo]

Back on-topic, I'm not convinced I'd vote for 'legalization', assuming it hits the ballot.
From what other states have done, they simply write a passel of new laws and toss the same black and brown kids in jail for 'smoking in a public place', or 'smoking and I don't like the way you look', etc.
All the while, we have a new set of crony 'providers' making sure no competition pushes the price down.
I don't smoke anything anymore, but being white, I was not really in danger of being hassled when I did smoke, unless I kicked the cop in the balls or something. No change there, and the changes that look likely don't seem to help those who are currently taking it in the shorts.

[Duncan20903]

Wow, was there a BOGO for straw men in your locality?

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.....ally-down/

/snip/
In that line, data provided by the Metropolitan Police Department shows that marijuana arrests have dropped to historic lows. MPD has only issued seven arrests for possession of marijuana this year, as of Nov. 6?down 99.2 percent from 2014's 895 total arrests. Even last year, though, police arrested just seven people from Jul. 7 to Dec. 31, likely an indication of a change in MPD strategy after decriminalization first took effect. Here's a by-the-numbers breakdown of MPD arrests for pot possession from 2010 through last week:

2010: 2161

2011: 2346
2012: 1553
2013: 1215
2014: 895
2015: 7 (as of Nov. 6)

Possession arrests spiked in 2011 during this period, and gradually decreased until 2014. Then, they plummeted. "I'm not policing the city as a mom, I'm policing it as the police chief?and 70 percent of the public supported [Initiative 71]," Police Chief Cathy Lanier said in February, according to The Daily Beast. "All those arrests do is make people hate us."

[Sevo]

I'm certainly glad you found one place where it's doing some good.
Chew on this for a while before you predict the CA results:

"California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) said Sunday that he is not convinced legalizing marijuana is a good idea because the population needs to "stay alert."
"The problem with anything, a certain amount is okay," Brown said on NBC's Meet the Press. "But there is a tendency to go to extremes. And all of a sudden, if there's advertising and legitimacy, how many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....85455.html

[Rhywun]

Meanwhile, NYC is still arresting more than 10,000 a year - which is way down, believe it or not.

[Sevo]

I'll give it a close read if it makes the ballot. Not gonna throw the baby out with the bathwater, but I have strong doubts it's as slam-dunk as presented.

[Duncan20903]

On Election Day 2016 it is quite possible that cannabis law reform will go mano a mano with the idiocy of re-criminalization. Some of the more "special" sycophants of prohibition have started to collect signatures for "Stop Pot 2016." The only thing that would remain "legal" is medicinal cannabis but the State is required to grow and dispense it to patients.

[Robert]

If that's what it takes, what better way for it to gain & hold legitimacy than the state's growing & dispensing it?