California’s three cannabis licensing authorities have announced the official withdrawal of the draft medical cannabis regulations and will develop emergency regulations based on new laws passed this year.
The California Department of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau of Cannabis Control, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Department of Public Health released draft regulations for the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act of 2015 (MCRSA). These licensing authorities held several public hearings to accept verbal and written comments regarding the draft regulations. The licensing authorities had planned to move forward with a separate draft regulatory package for the implementation of California Proposition 64: The Adult Use of Marijuana Act of 2016 (AUMA). However, in late June, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA, also known as Senate Bill 94), which created one regulatory system for both medicinal and adult-use cannabis. (Read more about state cannabis law at California Cannabis Law.) As a result, the licensing authorities will withdraw the proposed medical cannabis regulations noticed for public comment on April 28, 2017, and May 5, 2017.
The three cannabis licensing authorities are in the process of drafting emergency regulations based on the new law for the commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis industries. The licensing authorities will consider the public comments received on the draft medical cannabis regulations and use the feedback to inform the draft emergency regulations. The emergency regulations are expected to be published in November 2017.