Oakland, Ca Legalizes Large Scale Cannabis Farming!

[Michigan Medical Gardens]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66K17320100721

 

 

California (Reuters) - The city of Oakland, California on Tuesday legalized large-scale marijuana cultivation for medical use and will issue up to four permits for "industrial" cultivation starting next year.

 

The move by the San Francisco Bay Area city aims to bring medical marijuana cultivation into the open and allow the city to profit by taxing those who grow it.

 

The resolution passed the city council easily after a nearly four-hour debate that pitted small-scale "garden" growers against advocates of a bigger, industrial system that would become a "Silicon Valley" of pot.

 

"This is going to grow as an industry. And someone is going to have a high-tech producer," Council Member Jean Quan said during the debate.

 

Oakland already taxes sales of medical marijuana, but cultivation has existed in a legal gray area. Council members plan later action to levy new taxes on growers.

 

The city's decision is separate from a statewide ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use which Californians will vote on in November.

 

Polls put support for the November state legalization measure at about 50 percent of voters, and if it passed, the state would be the first to broadly legalize its use. Many jurisdictions tolerate some personal use and small sales, but none allow major-scale growing, sales and recreational use.

 

U.S. Federal law bans marijuana use of any sort but law enforcement authorities have turned a virtual blind eye to medical marijuana.

 

Large-scale cultivation in California so far has been dominated by criminals who grow marijuana in national forests or complexes of grow houses, law enforcement officers say.

 

The toughest opposition at the Tuesday city council meeting in Oakland came from the small-scale marijuana growers who feel they will be squeezed out of the market by the new 'agribusiness'. Outright opponents to marijuana use were silent.

 

(Editing by Alan Elsner)

[herb green]

Awesome

 

Thanks for bringing the article here!

[solabeirtan]

Check this out: It almost seems as if the Sheriffs committed manslaughter as retaliation....

 

Just outside of Oakland in the hills surrounding that area a dozen agents surrounded a grow op and iced its only caretaker:

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15568315?source=most_emailed

 

The decision to go to the commercial type production is obviously intended to exploit the Medical Marijuana Law for the benefit of a few greedy, simplistic beurocrats at the expense of an Established Mature Marijuana Producing Region, which will actually be prohibited from growing outdoors according to the new City Ordinance.

[bobandtorey]

Didn't Ed Rosenthal try this and get busted Federally?

 

Yep

[Michigan Medical Gardens]

Big agro wants to get in on it.... ugh. But there will always be micro-brewery type home gardens that are way better than the "Bud Lights" of cannabis.

[herb green]

Check this out: It almost seems as if the Sheriffs committed manslaughter as retaliation....

 

Just outside of Oakland in the hills surrounding that area a dozen agents surrounded a grow op and iced its only caretaker:

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15568315?source=most_emailed

 

The decision to go to the commercial type production is obviously intended to exploit the Medical Marijuana Law for the benefit of a few greedy, simplistic beurocrats at the expense of an Established Mature Marijuana Producing Region, which will actually be prohibited from growing outdoors according to the new City Ordinance.

 

That's actually far away from oakland...maybe 80 miles... down by San Jose in Santa Clara county

 

Its Far... and up in the hills

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15568315?source=most_emailed

 

In Oakland they are trying to create like an Amsterdam...but better with cannabis schools and cafes and cutting edge state of the art commercial growing facilities

 

I dont think they are restricting indivuals or caregivers from growing outdoor crops...To be licenced by the city of oakland large scale commercial mmj grow operation it may have to be indoors

 

Its a positive IMO...they will be accepted by local and state laws and supported for what they are doing...Its a step forward

[westmich]

My understanding is that they will permit 4 large scale farms and each has to pay a yearly permit of about $120,000. Local growers are bitching, but, IMHO, there is room for all. If people want lower prices large scale farms are going to have to happen.