California Governor Jerry Brown Signs Comprehensive Cannabis Act

With the signing of the 2017-18 California State Budget on June 27th, California Governor Jerry Brown has integrated The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult of Marijuana Act (AUMA) with The Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA).

The new California cannabis control act is called Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), with Governor Brown has both integrated the previous approaches, and created an unpronounceable acronym.

California, the world's sixth largest economy, is also the state with the oldest legalized medicinal cannabis market (MCRSA was approved in 1996). Many worried about how the two distinct regulatory structures would work together. In other states (Washington, for example), the release of the adult use market had devastated the medical market. Would California follow the same path?

Earlier this year, Brown had revealed his intentions in a Trailer Bill which aimed to accomplish 12 goals. Many of these were modified in the final bill.

The combined approaches are well described here. For reference, the text of the final bill is here.

The new bill makes several significant changes - here's one: eliminates the requirement for a distribution intermediary between the growers and manufacturers and the retailers (dispensaries). This is a fundamentally different approach than the California industry was led to expect, and also fundamentally different than its neighboring state, Nevada.