MEMBERSHIP
The start of 2016 means the beginning of our Membership Drive. The stakes could not be higher this year as once again safe access is under threat from prohibitionists that would rather stick their head in the sand then responsibly regulate and license medical marijuana activities in their communities. Just today I got a call from a gentlemen named Michael in Solano County, who tells me that they are basically under siege when it comes to their patients rights with all the new bans.
And they aren’t the only ones...
Bans, also called “Interim Ordinances," are running rampant across the state. This is to beat the March 1st, 2016 deadline despite Assembly Member Jim Wood's assurance that the 2nd District is working to have that “drafting error” removed.
With everyone focused on legalizing adult use in 2016, it’s becoming very easy for counties to ban what they don’t like without the majority of people really paying attention. This will not only impact legalization for adults but will effectively roll back protections for patients including permitting cities to ban cultivation for personal use by individuals and caregivers.
So a few weeks back the Monterey County NORML Lobbying Team started a project called Direct Democracy by Electronic Debate also know as “Cheat Sheets” that basically give a perfect snapshot and then detailed breakdown of what is happening in the County and the Cities within.
Part of it is to actually take the drafts presented by the city planners or attorneys, copy and format them to google dive as a document, then open up to a civil critique.
A good example of this strategy in action is the old Salinas Draft Ordinance on Google Drive which was opened up to over 100 Stakeholders for comments and suggested changes to the language of the proposed ordinance.
After that, we scheduled a small meeting with Chris Callihan, the City Council for the City of Salinas, who had drafted the initial ordinance.
We started by presenting the copy of his draft on Google Drive, showed him the comments, then quickly went down a list of our top 5 concerns. We finished the meeting in about 15 minutes total.
We didn’t waste his time, we were efficient, polite, and productive. Advancing regulations that will permit licensed medical marijuana businesses to open in the City of Salinas.
Since then he has released a new draft and improved it quite a bit.
To become a part of this process and help us fight for regulations allowing for the licensing of medical marijuana businesses, do the following:
FIRST
Request Commenting Privileges on Google Drive to Access the Cheat Sheets.
Then make a comment next to the County you want to help out with by entering info.
SECOND
Report bans on the California City & County Ban Watch Facebook Group.
THIRD
Become a Member of Monterey County NORML.
All applicants are considered on their individual merits.
CLICK TO JOIN
Slack Channel: #team-membership
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