The Old Swoop n Scoop
Was It Planned This Way?
After the adoption of medical marijuana regulations in 2015, we got Proposition 64 (aka AUMA the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, aka the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act) in 2016. Cities established legal retail regulations, but at a very high cost to those fledgling businesses.
Taxes (a different one at every stage of the supply chain,) licensing fees, and compliance expenses (courtesy of multiple state agencies, all charging for the inspection and often mandating expensive, architect-level upgrades) ate into already razor-thin profit margins. Many of the OGs who created this “industry” in the first place, couldn’t hold on. Deep-pocket vultures circled overhead, waiting to swoop on struggling businesses and scoop them up.
Far worse, Prop 64 destroyed the compassion programs. Because marijuana was now taxed at every stop along the supply chain, a monthly charitable expense of one thousand dollars prior to AUMA ballooned out to hundreds of thousands afterwards. Dispensaries had to abort the compassion programs.
With massive taxes, raised prices, and lower doses, many patients were driven to the black market, or back onto the prescription meds they’d gotten off of thanks to weed, or worse – suicide.
Don’t kid yourself. These are the consequences of an assault on compassion by the greedheads of corporate America swooping on an industry created by hippies and founded on “Family Dog Values”
Senate Bill 829 – Compassion Dies Twice
In 2018 there was an attempt to bring back compassion with Senate Bill 829, but that hope was cruelly stomped out by our Jesuit then-governor, Jerry Brown. He refused to sign the bill, saying, “This bill authorizes retailers to offer free cannabis or cannabis goods to medicinal patients who have a physician’s recommendation. This bill contains provisions that conflict with the strict standards contained in the voter approved Control, Regulate, and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act. Providing free cannabis to a person with only a doctor’s recommendation undermines these rules and the intent of the voters. For this reason, I cannot sign this bill.” Signed Edmund G. Brown Jr. on September 30, 2018.
Before we take another step, I have to say that Jerry Brown had no fucking clue as to the intent of this voter, and many more like me. This gutless bullshit was and still is unforgivable.
In response, Marine veteran, Ryan Miller, who founded Operation EVAC (Educating Veterans About Cannabis) wrote, “My heart breaks for the most vulnerable communities in California and I pray that we don’t lose any lives as a result. If anyone on the Compassion Coalition is considering self-harm then, I understand, you’re not alone, and choosing to hold on to life is critical to the completion of our mission. He then posted the number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline (800 273-8255) and Crisis Management Text Messaging (741-741) along with his own cell phone number.
Senate Bill 34 – Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary Ride Again!
In 2019, there was yet another attempt to restore the compassion programs. This one was successful. Stating that “it is vital for the health and safety of vulnerable and low-income medicinal cannabis patients to keep them off the black market by allowing these compassionate care donations,” the California Legislature passed the Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary Act, SB 34.”
Senate Bill 34 is intended to “regulate the distribution of donated medicinal cannabis and cannabis products by retailers and compassionate care programs, which were driven to the black market after the legalization of adult-use cannabis.”
With the passage of SB 34, the compassion community has begun to resurrect itself.
In Modesto, in the Central Valley, The People’s Remedy now offers a monthly veterans gathering sponsored by Weed for Warriors, founded by Army veteran, Sean Kiernan. At a recent (date?) event, vets waited in line for hours while volunteers packaged cannabis and cannabis products for them, according to strict new regulations. But it was very much worth the wait, as each vet left the event with a month’s worth of medicine.
To be continued...
(Insert video from event, and quotes from Amanda Soens, Sean Kiernan and/or Ryan Miller)
