Tag: Governor Jerry Brown

Clearing A Pot Conviction Just Got Easier In California

Up to half a million Californians are estimated to be affected by the law.

When California legalized marijuana in 2016, a provision in the new law made it possible for people with marijuana convictions to have their records cleared or changed to reflect reduced charges.

However, the process to do so was long and convoluted, meaning many people weren’t able to take advantage of it. Now, a newly-passed law will require the legislature to automatically review cannabis convictions, streamlining the process.

“It was so inaccessible for a variety of reasons,” Rodney Holcombe of the Drug Policy Alliance told USA Today. “This (new law) will empower people. My heart goes out to people who have had to navigate this process on their own. It’s confusing, expensive and tiring.”

Assembly Bill 1793 was passed by a majority in the California state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sept. 30.

The bill requires the California Department of Justice “to review the records in the state summary criminal history information database and to identify past convictions that are potentially eligible for recall or dismissal of sentence, dismissal and sealing, or redesignation pursuant to AUMA (the Adult Use Marijuana Act)” before July 1, 2019. After that, prosecutors will have a year to either clear the conviction or reduce the charge to a misdemeanor.

“AB 1793 will bring people closer to realizing their existing rights by creating a simpler pathway for Californians to turn the page and make a fresh start,” Assemblyman Rob Bonta told the Los Angeles Times. “Long after paying their debt to society, people shouldn’t continue to face the collateral consequences, like being denied a job or housing, because they have an outdated conviction on their records.”

Up to half a million Californians are estimated to be affected by the new policy. Misdemeanors including growing and transporting up to an ounce of marijuana can be cleared, while felony convictions including possession with intent to sell can be reduced to misdemeanors.

“It’s safe to say the number of persons eligible to have their offenses reduced from felonies to misdemeanors is in the hundreds of thousands,” said Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML. “Most people should be relieved to no longer have a felony on their record.”

Despite the huge number of people who are eligible to have their sentences reduced, only 5,000 have applied in the past two years. This highlights the need for the new, automated process.

“This is transformative,” Holcombe said. “This creates an opportunity for people to reclaim their lives.”

View the original article at thefix.com

2 October 2018
New Rehab Reform Laws Aim To Clean Up California's Troubled System

One of the new laws puts a ban on patient brokering.

California Gov. Jerry Brown last week green-lit a series of measures aimed at reforming the state’s troubled and under-regulated rehab system.

One of the new measures, which come on the heels of media scrutiny of the state’s recovery industry, would require rehabs to refer to evidence-based models or the American Society of Addiction Medicine treatment criteria for a minimum standard of care.

“It’s an unbelievably unregulated field, and we’re going to try to put our arms around that by requiring some standards and the best scientific evidence before these facilities are licensed,” state Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) told the Orange County Register. “We may be able to solve a small part of the problem, and save some lives.”

The legislation gives the California State Department of Health Care Services five years to figure out the details.

“This bill would require the department to adopt specified standards for these facilities as minimum requirements for licensure,” the law reads. “The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific this requirement by means of plan or provider bulletins or similar instructions until regulations are adopted and would require the department to adopt the regulations by January 1, 2023.”

The governor also green-lit other rehab-related legislation, including one bill that puts a ban on patient brokering and another that makes rehab licenses provisional for a year and revocable.

Although the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, some cities and the Orange County Board of Supervisors voiced support for the new measures, an emergency room physicians’ associations worried whether giving in to NIMBY demands for regulation would work to increase stigma around addiction, according to Cal Matters.

And, despite what advocates view as legislative successes, some proposals didn’t pass or didn’t make it into the final legislation, including language that would have raised sober living home standards and created criminal consequences for patient brokering.

“Now we have legislative intent and precedent to address this issue in a larger context,” activist Ryan Hampton told the Orange County paper. “We’re going to continue to build on this success in the next session and in the future. We will get to the point where we have full protections in place. At least we’re not going backwards.”

Though the various pieces of legislation had different legislative sponsors, at least one credited the newspaper group—and comedian John Oliver—with lighting the spark that ignited change.

“Thanks to you and the paper and John Oliver for opening my eyes to the issue and the abuses,” state Sen. Hill told the publication. “Southern California has such a prevalence of these facilities. It’s not benefiting anyone, and harming so many people.”

View the original article at thefix.com

1 October 2018
California Aims To Tighten Law That Diverts Suspects To Mental Health Treatment

Prosecutors argue that a new law should restrict the type of suspects who can qualify for mental health treatment in lieu of jail.

California prosecutors are fighting to amend a law aimed at diverting mentally ill suspects to treatment in lieu of the criminal justice system.

The law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in June as part of a budget bill, gives judges the option to divert a suspect to a mental health treatment program and dismiss charges if it is decided that mental illness “played a significant role” in the crime, NBC News reported.

The diversion program was intended to reduce the backlog of suspects sent to mental hospitals, NBC News reported, because they are judged incompetent to stand trial.

California law already allowed for the diversion of mentally ill suspects, but prosecutors argue that the new law extends the privilege to too many people, namely people charged with serious crimes.

The new law allows the diversion of “any suspect with mental illness”—including bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, but excludes anti-social personality disorders and pedophilia, the LA Times reported.

In response, Governor Brown submitted a proposal on Monday night to limit who can participate in the diversion program. The proposal allows judges to exclude a “much broader range of dangerous suspects,” specifically banning those charged with murder, rape and other sex crimes from participating in the program.

Another part of the proposal prohibits suspects from owning firearms while participating in the program, and they may be required to pay restitution.

El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson said the proposal is “a significant improvement from the original language that was passed and signed into law as part of the budget,” according to the Times.

However, not everyone agrees with the proposal. One deputy public defender said the proposed revision “guts mental health diversion and goes far beyond a reasonable compromise,” allowing California counties to “continue to do what they have done for years—send sick people to prison instead of treatment.”

“The end result is higher incarceration rates for ill Californians, lawsuits for ill Californians, lawsuits against counties for mistreatment of the mentally ill and higher recidivism rates for untreated offenders,” said LA County deputy public defender Nick Stewart-Oaten, who is a member of the California Public Defenders Association’s legislative committee.

View the original article at thefix.com

16 August 2018
New Pot Regulations Force California Retailers To Unload Millions In Stock

After July 1st, cannabis retailers in the state are no longer allowed to sell untested cannabis goods.

New regulations for California’s legal cannabis industry went into effect on Sunday, July 1. The new rules require that all cannabis products sold in California be tested for chemicals, pesticides and foreign materials.

In addition, all cannabis products must be in child-proof packaging. Edibles may not exceed 10 mg of THC per serving or 100 mg per package. And non-edibles may not exceed 1,000 mg of THC per package for the adult-use market, or 2,000 mg per package for the medical-use market.

“These regulations are very necessary for consumer protections, environmental protection and public safety protections, so they are good and we support them,” said Kimberly Cargile, executive director of A Therapeutic Alternative medical cannabis dispensary in Sacramento.

“However,” she added, “it’s more difficult to operate within a regulated market and more difficult than we anticipated.”

The July 1st deadline meant that all “untested cannabis goods [can no longer] be sold by a retailer and must be destroyed,” according to the state Bureau of Cannabis Control—leaving some retailers left to wonder if their businesses could survive the “weed apocalypse.”

Some business owners estimated huge losses for California’s legal cannabis industry—about $90 million of product lost, according to a survey by the United Cannabis Business Association.

The association organized 128 cannabis businesses and advocacy groups to petition Governor Jerry Brown on Friday to “indefinitely extend” the period for selling untested cannabis products.

The group argued for the extension saying that without it, the new regulations will “financially cripple the majority of retailers,” by forcing them to “destroy everything in their inventory and repurchase new products.”

They also argue that there are not enough testing facilities approved by the state to handle the demand and volume of cannabis products that need to be tested.

However, the state maintains that retailers were given enough time to comply with the regulations.

“We issued our emergency regulations back in November, and at that time, we were pretty clear about the fact that there would be a six-month transition period for retailers to use up their existing supply,” said a spokesperson for the Bureau of Cannabis Control. “We felt that was a sufficient amount of time to deplete stock on hand and adapt to California’s new rules.”

View the original article at thefix.com

5 July 2018