Dear Pot Lawyer,
What’s going on with legal weed in California?
I’m not 100 percent sure, to be honest, but it seems crazy. Every week, I talk to pot lawyers in our San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, or to an Oregon client expanding south, and they like to tell me things are crazy in California. In all, it makes me feel good about being here and not there. But let me tell you what I know.
Last November, California voters approved Proposition 64, AKA the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (“AUMA”), making legal the recreational use of cannabis by those 21 and older. You probably remember that. Prior to AUMA, California had been the longest-tenured medical marijuana state, going back to Proposition 215 in 1996. The state’s medical cannabis laws are and were as confusing and messy as Oregon’s, especially if you’re thinking about things from a business point of view. And really, they haven’t improved much in the past 20 years.