Thanks so much - so what is the deal?!?
The deal is that prop 19 addresses recreational cannabis law, not medical. In my opinion the biggest benefit of the law to everyone (medical, legal, illegal alike) is that it makes it much more difficult to bust people for any cannabis related issues. It prohibits state/local police from cooperating with the DEA on cannabis cases. It removes most of the probable cause/reasonable suspicion which leads to busts. For example the single most common method of busting people is a cop saying "i smell marijuana" when someone answers the door. That form of probable cause is eliminated with prop 19. Cannabis smell, will be just a smell, empty baggies, nutrient bottle, etc become just trash instead of evidence.
Prop 19 also allows you to form your own for profit legal corporation to do commercial grows or sales. It's not only Richard Lee who's allowed to do this, anyone with a permit can do so.
As far as the claims of prop 19 taking away a medical patient's rights to possess medicine, that claim is 100% fiction. Here is the proof. Quoting from the text of prop 19;
Ensure that if a city decides not to tax and regulate the sale of cannabis, that buying and selling cannabis within that city's limits remain illegal, but that the city's citizens still have the right to possess and consume small amounts, except as permitted under Health and Safety Sections 11362.5 and 11362.7 through 11362.9.
Ensure that if a city decides it does want to tax and regulate the buying and selling of cannabis (to and from adults only), that a strictly controlled legal system is implemented to oversee and regulate cultivation, distribution, and sales, and that the city will have control over how and how much cannabis can be bought and sold, except as permitted under Health and Safety Sections 11362.5 and 11362.7 through 11362.9
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Health and Safety Section 11362.5 = prop 215 (which is the law our medical cannabis laws are based on).
As you can see prop 19 specifically exempts medical cannabis law. There are a lot of people with their own motivations for wanting to keep prohibition in place.A lot of people have bought into these lies without reading the prop for themselves. When someone says that prop 19 is going to take away medical patients rights, don't believe them.
We need to be able to make some profit... can we sell it "freely to dispensaries" out there? If so what do you need? Not trying to go searching for people who want some chronic for a good price!
Effectively, yes. Technically it's illegal for growers to sell bud to a dispensary, it always has been. But what is legal is for you as a member of their collective to sell your bud on consignment. Basically, you drop off your bud at the dispensary, get an IOU for the agreed upon price, and then get paid usually 1-4 weeks later. (usually 1-2 weeks)
Nothing in prop 19 changes this. Some dispensaries will be permitted to grow their own under prop 19, some will not and will continue to rely on medical vendors. Depending on where you grow you can grow up to 99 plants/100 sq feet per patient in California.
Here is a list of the current county laws and guidelines. If you stay under these limits, you'll be all good.
http://www.safeaccessnow.net/countyguidelines.htm
Here is a link to the text of prop 19 so you can see it for yourself if you'd like.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Text_of_Proposition_19,_the_%22Regulate,_Control_and_Tax_Cannabis_Act_of_2010%22_(California)
If you have any questions about the medical business/regulations, prop 19, or anything else feel free to ask me any time.