Note to the SCC August 13, 2015
Here is the latest draft of AB-266, 63 pages of bureaucratese, some of it troubling. Dale Gieringer of California NORML has been following the drafting process. I asked him:
“Is there a ‘movement’ lawyer involved in the drafting process? If not, perhaps the SCC docs should pay somebody to read it with an eye towards safeguarding their interests —and their patients’. Section 2 paragraph 6 implicitly forbids ‘Practicing medicine while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.’ What about doctors who use recommended cannabis (or any drug, with a valid prescription)? Who will see to the removal of this vague —and ominous— reminder to the med board?”
He replied:
“No movement attorneys . The physician language was all closely reviewed by the CMA; they killed a bunch of nasty provisions in the earlier versions. The League of Cities, Rural Counties, and law enforcement have effective veto power on any substantive changes to the bill at this point.”
Perhaps I’m being overly suspicious, but the goal of law enforcement for all these years has been to curtail and disimplement Prop 215. Law enforcement and the League of Cities drafted this bill for an ambitious Assemblyman named Rob Bonta. The League of Cities is a mechanism for Corporate America to fund (and therefore control) politicians and bureaucrats. Their main political objective is to curtail and roll back public employees’ pensions so that taxes on the rich don’t get raised.
—Fred Gardner
