California Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Initiative (2014)‬

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Contents [hide] * 1 Text of measure * 2 Path to the ballot * 3 External links
A California Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Initiative (#13-0013) was approved for circulation in California as a contender for the November 4, 2014 ballot as an initiated state statute.
The measure would have: * Decriminalized marijuana and hemp use, possession, cultivation, transportation, or distribution. * Required case-by-case review for persons currently charged with or convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses, for possible sentence modification, amnesty, or immediate release from prison, jail, parole, or probation. * Required case-by-case review of applications to have records of these charges and convictions erased. * Required the California State Legislature to adopt laws to license and tax commercial marijuana sales. * Allowed doctors to approve or recommend marijuana for patients, regardless of age. * Limited testing for marijuana for employment or insurance purposes.
Bared state or local aid to enforcement of federal marijuana laws.

Proposition 215: Text of Proposed Law

This initiative measure is submitted to the people in accordance with the provisions of Article II, Section 8 of the Constitution.
This initiative measure adds a section to the Health and Safety Code; therefore, new provisions proposed to be added are printed in italic type to indicate that they are new.
PROPOSED LAW
SECTION 1. Section 11362.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 
 11362.5. (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. 
 (b)(1) The people of the State of California hereby find and declare that the purposes of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are as follows: 
 (A) To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person's health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief. 
 (B) To ensure that patients and their primary caregivers who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction. 
 (C) To encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana. 
 (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede legislation prohibiting persons from engaging in conduct that endangers others, nor to condone the diversion of marijuana for nonmedical purposes. 
 (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient for medical purposes. 
 (d) Section 11357, relating to the possession of marijuana, and Section 11358, relating to the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or to a patient's primary caregiver, who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician. 
 (e) For the purposes of this section, ''primary caregiver" means the individual designated by the person exempted under this section who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that person.
SEC. 2. If any provision of this measure or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the measure that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this measure are severable.

The Public Health Consequences of Marijuana Legalization The Obama Administration continues to oppose legalization of marijuana and other illegal drugs because this approach runs counter to the public health approach to drug policy. Evidence shows our drug problem is a major public health and safety threat, and drug addiction is a disease that can be successfully prevented and treated. Legalizing drugs would increase their availability and normalize their use, leading to increased negative health consequences, particularly among young people. Drug legalization also undermines preventative health strategies, a keystone in improving overall public health in the United States. • In 2011, approximately 4.2 million people met the diagnostic criteria for abuse or dependence on marijuana.ii • Marijuana use is associated with addiction,iii respiratory illnesses,iv and cognitive impairment.v • Marijuana is also the second leading substance for which people receive drug treatmentvi and a major cause for visits to emergency rooms.vii • Studies also reveal that marijuana potency has almost tripled over the past 20 years,viii raising serious concerns about implications for public health – especially among adolescents, for whom long-term use of marijuana may be linked with lower IQ (as much as an average 8 point drop) later in life.ix LEGALIZATION WILL NOT SOLVE PUBLIC HEALTH OR SAFETY CHALLENGES Research also shows that policies that would make drugs more available would likely not eliminate the black market or improve public health and safety. Recent reports from the nonpartisan RAND Institute found that the potential economic benefits from legalization had been overstated:xiii,xiv • Marijuana legalization would not eliminate the black market for the drug. • And dramatically lowered prices could mean substantially lower potential tax revenue for states. It is for these reasons the Administration continues to oppose legalization, and instead focuses on drug prevention, treatment, support for recovery, and innovative criminal justice strategies to break the cycle of drug use and crime. This approach is helping improve public health and safety in communities across the United States. MARIJUANA USE POSES SIGNIFICANT RISKS TO PUBLIC HEALTH Marijuana places a significant strain on our health care system, and poses considerable danger to the health and safety of the users themselves, their families, and our communities. We know that marijuana use, particularly long-term, chronic use that began at a young age, can lead to dependence and addiction.i Marijuana is not a benign drug: INCREASED AVAILABILITY LEADS TO INCREASED HEALTH AND SAFETY COSTS Scientific research shows us that increasing the availability of drugs can lead to increased use, and growth in the consequences of that use: • Legality increases the availability and acceptability of drugs, as we see with alcohol and tobacco – which far outpaces the use of illegal drugs.x • Increased availability and acceptability of marijuana would likely lead to increased consumption of the drug.xi • Increased consumption leads to higher public health and financial costs for society. Addictive substances like alcohol and tobacco, which are legal and taxed, already result in much higher social costs than the revenue they generate. The cost to society of alcohol alone is estimated to be more than 15 times the revenue gained by their taxation.xii For more information, please visit ONDCP’s Marijuana Resource Center: www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/marijuanainfo i Anthony, JC, Warner, LA, and Kessler, RC (1994) Comparative Epidemiology of Dependence on Tobacco, Alcohol, Controlled Substances, and Inhalants: Basic Findings from the National Comorbidity Survey, Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2(3):244-268. Available: http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1994-45545-001 ii Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. [September 2012]. Available: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k11Results/NSDUHresults2011.htm#Fig7-2 iii Anthony, JC, Warner, LA, and Kessler, RC (1994) Comparative Epidemiology of Dependence on Tobacco, Alcohol, Controlled Substances, and Inhalants: Basic Findings from the National Comorbidity Survey, Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2(3):244-268. Available: http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1994-45545-001 iv Polen MR, Sidney S, Tekawa IS, Sadler M, Friedman GD. Health care use by frequent marijuana smokers who do not smoke tobacco. West J Med 158(6):596–601, 1993. Available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8337854 v Meier et al., “Adolescent-onset cannabis and neuropsychological health.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [August 27, 2012]. Available: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/08/22/1206820109 vi Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions by Primary Substance of Abuse, 2010. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. [2012]. Available: http://wwwdasis.samhsa.gov/webt/quicklink/US10.htm vii Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Highlights of the 2010 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) Findings on Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. [July 2012]. Available: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k12/DAWN096/SR096EDHighlights2010.pdf viii Mehmedic, Zlatko, et al., “Potency Trends for Δ9-THC and Other Cannabinoids in Confiscated Cannabis Preparations from 1993 to 2008.” Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol. 55, No. 5. [September 2010]. Available: http://home.olemiss.edu/~suman/potancy%20paper%202010.pdf ix Meier et al., “Adolescent-onset cannabis and neuropsychological health.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [August 27, 2012]. Available: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/08/22/1206820109 x Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. [September 2012]. Available: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2k11Results/NSDUHresults2011.htm xi Kilmer, Beau, et al., Altered States? Assessing How Marijuana Legalization in California Could Influence Marijuana Consumption and Public Budgets. RAND Corporation. [2010]. Available: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP315.pdf xii Ellen E. Bouchery, Henrick J. Harwood, Jeffrey J. Sacks, Carol J. Simon, Robert D. Brewer. Economic Costs of Excessive Alcohol Consumption in the U.S., 2006. American Journal of Preventive Medicine - November 2011 (Vol. 41, Issue 5, Pages 516-524, DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2011.06.045). Available: http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(11)00538-1/fulltext xiii Kilmer, Beau, et al., Reducing Drug Trafficking Revenues and Violence in Mexico: Would Legalizing Marijuana in California Help? RAND Corporation. [2010]. Available: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP325.pdf xiv Kilmer, Beau, et al., Altered States? Assessing How Marijuana Legalization in California Could Influence Marijuana Consumption and Public Budgets. RAND Corporation. [2010]. Available: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP315.pdf

Outdoor marijuana cultivation creates a host of negative environmental effects. These grow sites affect wildlife, vegetation, water, soil, and other natural resources through the use of chemicals, fertilizers, terracing, and poaching. Marijuana cultivation results in the chemical contamination and alteration of watersheds; diversion of natural water courses; elimination of native vegetation; wildfire hazards; poaching of wildlife; and disposal of garbage, non-biodegradable materials, and human waste.
Marijuana growers apply insecticides directly to plants to protect them from insect damage. Chemical repellants and poisons are applied at the base of the marijuana plants and around the perimeter of the grow site to ward off or kill rats, deer, and other animals that could cause crop damage. Toxic chemicals are applied to irrigation hoses to prevent damage by rodents. According to the National Park Service, “degradation to the landscape includes tree and vegetation clearing, use of various chemicals and fertilizers that pollute the land and contribute to food chain contamination, and construction of ditches and crude dams to divert streams and other water sources with irrigation equipment.”
Outdoor marijuana grow site workers can also create serious wildfire hazards by clearing land for planting (which results in piles of dried vegetation) and by using campfires for cooking, heat, and sterilizing water. In August 2009, growers destroyed more than 89,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. The massive La Brea wildfire began in the Los Padres National Forest within the San Rafael Wilderness area in Santa Barbara County, California, and subsequently spread to surrounding county and private lands. According to United States Forest Service (USFS) reporting, the source of the fire was an illegal cooking fire at an extensive, recurring Drug Trafficking Organization-operated outdoor grow site where more than 20,000 marijuana plants were under cultivation. According to the USFS, suppression and resource damage costs of the La Brea wildfire totaled nearly $35 million.
In addition to the environmental damage, the cost to rehabilitate the land damaged by illicit marijuana grows is prohibitive, creating an additional burden to public and tribal land agency budgets. According to internal Park Service estimates, full cleanup and restoration costs range from $14,900 to $17,700 per acre.* Total costs include removal and disposal of hazardous waste (pesticides, fuels, fertilizers, batteries) and removal of camp facilities, irrigation hoses, and garbage. Full restoration includes re-contouring plant terraces, large tent pads, and cisterns/wells and re-vegetating clear-cut landscapes.
The United States has an abundance of public lands set aside by Congress for conservation, recreational use, and enjoyment of the citizens of this country and visitors from around the globe. Unfortunately, criminal organizations are exploiting some of these public and tribal lands as grow sites for marijuana. During calendar year 2010, nearly 10 million plants were removed from nearly 24,000 illegal outdoor grow sites nationwide. These numbers provide insight into the size and scale of the negative environmental impact that marijuana cultivation can have on our Nation’s public lands.