MEDICAL CANNABIS COMMISSION TO DEVELOP STANDARDS FOR PERMITS

In light of the Berkeley City Council's proposed ballot measure to
create seven new "cannabusiness" facilities, the Medical Cannabis
Commission - which will likely be reconstituted under the measure -
met Thursday to develop a comprehensive rubric to evaluate
applications for facility permits.

In July, the council placed a measure on the November ballot that
would allow for six 30,000-square-foot cannabis cultivation facilities
and a fourth dispensary within the city. Anticipating a flood of
applications, the council asked the commission to develop a set of
standards by which it could evaluate applicants.

Kris Hermes, a commission member and spokesperson for Americans for
Safe Access, said the proposed two-tier process - whereby applicants
send the commission a letter of intent and then a certain number are
invited to submit complete proposals - was intended to help "weed out"
unfeasible proposals, adding that creating a fourth dispensary would
open a "Pandora's box" of applicants.

Though Thursday's meeting was largely a brainstorming session, Amanda
Reiman, a commission member and research director for Berkeley
Patients Group, said she expected next month's meeting to yield a
rubric for the council.

Commission member Jorge Galan suggested that the rubric evaluate the
viability of applicants' plans.

"(Applicants) can promise the moon," he said at the meeting. "How are
they actually going to implement the plans?"

The commission is also considering using a point system to rate
applicants in several designated categories such as quality control,
safety and environmental sustainability.

Reiman said she and Wendy Cosin, deputy planning director for the
city, will review their notes and come to the next commission meeting
on Oct. 21 with a summary and clarification of Thursday's discussion.

The recommendations the commission brings to the council are not
binding and may be undermined as current members can be superseded if
the ballot measure passes, especially since the commission now largely
consists of "cannabusiness" representatives and medical marijuana
activists. In a June interview, Mayor Tom Bates likened the makeup of
the commission to "the fox guarding the henhouse."

The ballot measure would bring the commission under the city's
purview, requiring that each of the nine commission members be
appointed by a council member.

Though the new commission will continue to have two dispensary
representatives, Hermes said it was not clear how much of the
membership would stay the same.

However, Reiman said the change was merely an attempt to include more
voices in the development of local cannabis policy, adding that she
supports the reconstitution of the commission.

"They're just evolving the commission into what other city commissions
already are," she said.

Hermes said the change would grant the city more control than before
because the council would not only choose the members of the
commission, but also select the recipients of the licenses.

"Hopefully (we can develop) a set of recommendations based on a
merit-rating system that will help guide city council members in
making what is hopefully an objective and not subjective decision on
who gets licensed," he said.