Jerry Brown

Governor Brown Repeals Deadline for Crucial Medical Marijuana Decision

Gov. Jerry Brown signed an emergency bill that eliminates a looming deadline that local governments faced to either ban or regulate the growing of medical marijuana

The governor on Wednesday signed AB21 by Democratic Assemblyman Jim Wood of Healdsburg. The bill amends the comprehensive medical marijuana regulations the California Legislature passed in September.

Brown also appointed Lori Ajax, the current chief deputy director of the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control, as the first chief of the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation, a division of the Department of Consumer Affairs that was created through the passage in September of a statewide licensing scheme for medical marijuana businesses.

Ajax’s appointment to the post – which pays $150,636 per year – must be confirmed by the California senate. According to the governor’s office, Ajax is registered to vote as a republican.

The framework approved in the closing hours of the legislative session included a paragraph that would have given the state alone authority to license pot growers in jurisdictions that did not have laws on the books by March 1 specifically allowing or outlawing cultivation.

Fearful of losing their power to set policy to the state, dozens of cities chose to ban pot-growing within their borders.

Wood says the deadline made it into the regulations by mistake and that local officials now can take time to consider the issue.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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