GROWING CONCERNS

If there was ever an industry that cried out for more regulation, more
oversight, more legitimacy, it's California's medical marijuana industry.

Yes, we're calling it an industry. While those who proffer and use
medicinal pot may call themselves caregivers and patients, and they
may present their dispensaries as co-ops and collectives, the reality
is that medical marijuana has become a business. People pay a doctor
to get a "recommendation" to legally use pot. They pay a dispensary
for the weed.

Yet California can't seem to make up its mind on how to treat this
rapidly growing industry. The regulators seem split between treating
the growth and distribution of medical marijuana as a communal,
nonprofit endeavor, akin to a community garden, and as a business that
should be regulated, inspected and taxed to boost government coffers.

The city of Los Angeles is a perfect example of this kind of
schizophrenic thinking. The city recently permitted and sanctioned a
maximum of 186 medical marijuana dispensaries in the city (though it
says just 41 of 169 applicants meet the provisions of the city's
strict new ordinance), and some City Council members have sought to
impose a cannabis business tax.

Yet Los Angeles Police Department officials have said the vast
majority of the dispensaries are illegal because they offer the drug
for sale, instead of operating as nonprofit collectives whose members
grow and cultivate marijuana for their shared use.

Recently, two businessmen stepped into this quandary with a proposal
to open a cannabis farm in a Canoga Park warehouse. Plant Properties
Management would lease space to licensed growers, then test, package
and track the bud to assure safe, legal medical marijuana. They said
their plan would allow Los Angeles to regulate pharmaceutical pot from
start to finish and bring a shadowy industry into the full light of
day.

But some Los Angeles officials adamantly oppose the idea of a
large-scale medicinal marijuana growing operation. While their
opposition may be well intended, they are ignoring a huge issue -
which is where does the marijuana offered in dispensaries come from?
It's unclear.

Medical marijuana advocates say the weed comes from small-scale grow
houses or large-scale cultivators in Northern California.

But law enforcement officials have suggested the supply could be
coming from illegal marijuana plantations in public parks and Mexican
drug cartels. This is a largely unregulated supply chain for an
increasingly regulated market.

The city of Oakland is one of the few jurisdictions tackling the
medical marijuana industry head on. It recently approved licensing
large-scale pot-growing plants. Officials there said regulating
cultivation is a public safety issue. The Fire Department found too
many electrical fires caused by shoddy indoor grow operations and
police noted robberies and crime from grow houses. Oakland will also
capture a hefty tax on the licensed pot sales.

Like Oakland, Los Angeles leaders should seriously consider proposals
to legitimize large-scale marijuana cultivation. The fact is, medical
marijuana dispensaries are legal, permitted and able to serve
thousands of customers.

It makes sense to regulate the entire process, from plant to sale.