Activists Celebrate 50 Years Of Marijuana Decriminalization In California

Advocates in California are celebrating the golden anniversary of marijuana
decriminalization in the state, noting that it was 50 years ago—on July 9,
1975—that then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill into law that reduced the
state’s felony possession law down to a citable misdemeanor, punishable by
a $100 fine and no jail time.

Sponsored by then-Sen. George Moscone (D) and known as the Moscone Act, the
law “resulted in an 80% reduction in felony marijuana arrests, saving the
state an estimated $100 million per year in enforcement costs, and saving
well over a million users from a criminal record over the years” according
to the advocacy group California NORML.

Prior to the law taking effect, possession of less than an ounce of
marijuana was punishable by two to 10 years behind bars.

The Moscone Act was passed in the wake of a number of unsuccessful efforts
to reform the state’s cannabis laws, California NORML explained in a press
release this week, perhaps most notably the 1972 California Marijuana
Initiative (CMI), described as “the world’s first ballot initiative to
legalize the personal use and cultivation of marijuana.”

Among CMI’s backers were California NORML director Gordon Brownell and
Michael Aldrich, co-founder of the group Amorphia, which financed the
initiative by selling rolling papers.

“Every county had a coordinator gathering volunteers. We had 20,000 people
circulating the initiative—no paid signatures,” Aldrich said in a
statement. “No one ever recognized there was such an electoral group out
there.”

Though the measure failed, it performed better than expected and propelled
organizers to lobby for the Moscone Act.

“The CMI formed the basis for a statewide reform movement that has existed
ever since,” Brownell said.

Initially the Moscone Act included cultivation in the reform, as well as a
higher possession limit, but in order to win passage by the legislature,
proponents dropped homegrow and lowered the possession limit from three
ounces to one.

The 50th anniversary of the Moscone Act—which became the foundation for
later legal reforms in the state—will be the subject of a cannabis exhibit
in Sacramento later this month at the California State Fair.

The July 19 event will feature interviews with Brownell and Aldrich as well
as felony marijuana arrestees slated to discuss how the drug war impacted
their lives and their families, Cal NORML said in its release.

The group noted that the state fair this year will for the second time host
an on-site consumption area.

It’s the fourth year that California’s annual event has invited marijuana
entrepreneurs and consumers to join the festivities—and, for the second
year in a row, on-site sales and consumption will be permitted

A recent state-funded study found that more than a third of California
adults are current cannabis consumers, and the vast majority of them say
marijuana provides health benefits—regardless of whether or not they are
specifically using it for medical purposes.

Lead author Linda Hill, a UC San Diego medical professor, said the study
“provides the first comprehensive understanding of cannabis use patterns in
California since the implementation of Proposition 64″—the 2016
voter-approved law that legalized marijuana for adults in the state.

Meanwhile in California, state officials are inviting research proposals
for a second round of grants under a program meant to better educate the
public on the state’s marijuana law and help policymakers make informed
decisions on the issue.

For the new $30 million round of the grant program, which is funded by
marijuana tax revenue, DCC said it is prioritizing proposals in research
areas including educational methods of improving public health and safety,
crop yields, state and local marijuana policies, consumer preferences,
environmental sustainability and other topics.

“At a time when the federal government is pulling back funding for
cannabis-related research, California is stepping up,” DCC Director Nicole
Elliott said in a press release last month.

Some operators in the state, however, say a recent tax hike “could kill
this industry.”


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Separately, the state’s Senate recently advanced a bill that includes
provisions to ratify a labor agreement ending random drug tests for
marijuana among correctional officers in the state’s prison system.

As part of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would be ratified by
the measure, which cleared the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee in
a unanimous 17-0 vote last Monday, most correctional officers would no
longer be randomly tested for cannabis or penalized over off-duty use.

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