This Sat: Dispensary Self-Regulation Meeting

The Need for Responsible Regulation of Medical Cannabis
Currently there exists no uniform regulation of medical cannabis cultivation or dispensation under state or local law. As medical cannabis cultivations and dispensaries have proliferated in the past year, some cities and counties have chosen to take actions to restrict, regulate and/or ban these operations. The majority of these city and county ordinances violate state laws in various ways, and greatly restrict a patients’ ability to obtain medicine. Furthermore, these ordinances express public sentiment that dispensaries should be regulated in order to mitigate any possible negative impacts in the community.

Recently, medical marijuana patients have shown increased support for reasonable regulation of dispensaries, because they realize that all patients are negatively impacted when even one dispensary acts in an irresponsible manner or violates state or local laws. Additionally, there is in increasing concern about the lack of assurances regarding the purity and potency of medical cannabis. At this time, no regulations whatsoever exist regarding the safety, potency and purity of medical cannabis to protect the health and safety of patients, their families and communities. With the exception of Mendocino County, no governmental bodies are willing to examine this issue, and it does not appear likely that any governmental body will deal with such a complex issue in a timely, knowledgeable, and reasonable manner.

If no action is taken to responsibly regulate cultivation and distribution of medical cannabis, then it is very likely that the medical marijuana community will face serious social and political repercussions. These could easily take the form of overly-restrictive and ineffective laws, which would fail to protect the rights and health of patients, communities and care providers.

Given the lack of infrastructure for the responsible regulation of dispensaries and cultivations, as well as the general lack of government interest in facilitating such regulation, we believe that it would be beneficial for patients and care providers to take action now to establish a comprehensive system of self-regulation for all of California’s care providers.


The Medical Cannabis Safety Program: A proposal for the responsible regulation of medical cannabis
The Medical Cannabis Safety Program(MCSP) is intended to protect the health, safety & welfare of medical cannabis patients, their families, care providers, and communities. To this end, the MCSP is proposing the establishment of a comprehensive regulatory system to ensure the highest standards in the cultivation and dispensation of medical cannabis, making purity, quality, safety and legal compliance the highest priorities.

Within this system, patients, care providers, and community members would participate in the creation and implementation of quality control standards in order to ensure the highest quality standards.

The MCSP proposal includes systems for: Regulation of care providers; assurance of quality and consistency; protection of patient records; legal defense funding; academic research on strains and dose-response; collection and distribution of educational information.


Here’s How to Help:
The Medical Cannabis Safety Program has been proposed by Ahimsa International, a non-profit organization, and is currently being developed in cooperation with several nonprofit organizations and subject-matter experts. We welcome your participation! Please contact us to find out about upcoming meetings and other ways you can assist in the development of this program.


Ahimsa International
contact: Dana Jay
ahimsa [at] AhimsaInternational.org
(707) 839-3153
http://www.AhimsaInternational.org