By Hilary Bricken, Principal at Harris Bricken
It’s no secret that California cannabis is suffering for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the stranglehold on access caused by local control. Local control is never going away in cannabis. It’s one of the linchpins that gets voters to approve cannabis ballot measures (NIMBYs in particular love local control even though they may disagree with the War on Drugs).
Still, this past week, local control got a little bit weaker in California when it comes to medical cannabis delivery with the passage of Senate Bill 1186. While this is a win for medical cannabis patients and medical cannabis retailers that deliver, it doesn’t do anything to help the struggling adult use market– which is really the lifeblood of California’s democratic cannabis experiment. In any event, California is expanding medical cannabis delivery, and that’s a very good thing.
Senate Bill 1186, alongside other technical fixes to the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act, creates the Medicinal Cannabis Patients’ Right of Access Act (“Act”). Its main function is that, as of January 1, 2024, no local jurisdiction can
adopt or enforce any regulation that prohibits the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers, or that otherwise has the effect of prohibiting the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers by licensed medicinal cannabis businesses in a timely and readily accessible manner, and in types and quantities that are sufficient to meet demand from medicinal cannabis patients within the local jurisdiction . . .
The Act also intelligently prohibits local government’s use of de facto bans on medical cannabis delivery via severe restrictions on:
I am happy to see medical cannabis delivery and increased access for patients who live in cities and counties that refuse to get on board with cannabis legalization. My hope though is that eventually we see a bill come through for delivery access for adult use cannabis in California.
Re-published with the permission of Harris Bricken and The Canna Law Blog
Hilary Bricken is a partner with the law firm Husch Blackwell, where she advises clients in the cannabis, healthcare, and life sciences spaces on transactions, regulatory compliance, governance matters, and other corporate needs. Hilary may be reached at [email protected].
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