Los Angeles City Council Moves Forward in Legalizing Additional MMJ Businesses

by | Nov 19, 2016 | Industry News | 0 comments

Los Angeles City Council Moves Forward in Legalizing Additional MMJ Businesses

The Los Angeles City Council took a big step Tuesday toward creating possibly the largest legal cannabis market in the United States, if not the world.

The council voted to develop a March ballot measure asking city voters to repeal a 2013 ordinance that both bans medical marijuana businesses and grants “limited immunity” from prosecution to 135 dispensaries, Reported in the L.A. news.

The move was proposed by an LA City Council President as The Cannabis Enforcement, Taxation and Regulation Act. If voters give thumbs up, the initiative would repeal Proposition D on July 31, 2018, and would hand cannabis industry regulatory authority to the council. Voters approved Proposition D three years ago.

Now the LA City Council president is open to increasing the number of legal medical marijuana dispensaries from 135 and may even support the licensing of MMJ delivery businesses, per L.A. Reports.

If the city council ultimately places a measure on the March ballot, it could compete with a parallel initiative by a Trade Alliance, that is a group of MMJ dispensaries that are compliant with Proposition D.The council is slated to revisit the topic before Nov. 9, according to reports. The measure also could tax cannabis organizations and crack down on unlicensed businesses.

The L.A. metro area contains thousands of cannabis-related businesses. In fact, there are approximately 1,500 MMJ collectives – most of which still operate in the black market.

Regulating and legitimizing the cannabis trade in L.A. could jump-start the biggest legal metro marijuana market worldwide. Many dispensaries risked raids even though they worked to oblige the regulated rules by the book. The city council acknowledged this and assisted the dispensaries who aided in raid of those operating without a license. They are now in-line to jump in the dispensary business in Los Angeles.

This news bodes well for many bud tenders as it will generate an abundance of new shops to work at. It also opens the door for automatic bud trimmers since suppliers will need to keep up with demand. And trimming machine rentals? Yep, we’ll see a big uptick on rentals as well.

Happy Trimming!

Michael Garay ~

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GMP refers to the Good Manufacturing Practice Regulations promulgated by the US Food and Drug Administration under the authority of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (See Chapter IV for food, and Chapter V, Subchapters A, B, C, D, and E for drugs and devices.) These regulations, which have the force of law, require that manufacturers, processors, and packagers of drugs, medical devices, some food, and blood take proactive steps to ensure that their products are safe, pure, and effective. GMP regulations require a quality approach to manufacturing, enabling companies to minimize or eliminate instances of contamination, mixups, and errors. This in turn, protects the consumer from purchasing a product which is not effective or even dangerous. Failure of firms to comply with GMP regulations can result in very serious consequences including recall, seizure, fines, and jail time.

GMP regulations address issues including record keeping, personnel qualifications, sanitation, cleanliness, equipment verification, process validation, and complaint handling. Most GMP requirements are very general and open-ended, allowing each manufacturer to decide individually how to best implement the necessary controls. This provides much flexibility, but also requires that the manufacturer interpret the requirements in a manner which makes sense for each individual business.

GMP is also sometimes referred to as “cGMP”. The “c” stands for “current,” reminding manufacturers that they must employ technologies and systems which are up-to-date in order to comply with the regulation.