California cities and counties are in the process of enacting a list of bans and regulations on medical marijuana before the state government provides restrictions in March 2016.

The reason the counties are in a rush is because they’re “paranoid” about how to govern pot, according to sacbee.com.

“If you have a medical card for health purposes I don’t see why the state would come in and regulate or ban your usage,” said CSUSB criminal justice major Astrid Grandls.

A 70-page framework was created in September 2015, allowing the state to step in and have authority over licensed growers if these counties didn’t have their own regulations in the books by March 1, according to Al Jazeera America, a media outlet.

If certain cities are against medical marijuana or for it, then they can ban or legalize business within their borders, according to abovethelaw.com.

Many long time growers are concerned the state is trying to regulate an industry that has been unregulated since 1996, according to ibtimes.com.

Calnorml.org stated in an article that this bill is specifically concerned about people who store, manufacture, or transport cannabis for their own personal use, or for a primary caregiver.

“It’s so easy to get a medical card in 2016 even if you don’t have any medical history, and then people with these cards sell for recreational use,” said psychology major Jessica Hernandez.

The number of medical marijuana users is California reaching up to 572,762, according to medicalmarijuana.procon.org, and 13 percent of people in California in general smoke marijuana regularly, according to CBS News.

“ I don’t think that these regulations will stop people from smoking because the laws never have,” said student Lizabeth Mora.

Chair of the Criminal Justice Department, Dr. Larry Gaines talked about why he finds it important for the state to step in even if it has almost been two decades since medical marijuana has been legalized.

“Marijuana has always been a political issue, we’ve demonized it for so many years. I think it was necessary for the state to come in and tell California counties that they need to get it together,” said Gaines.

Legalization of recreational marijuana will be on the ballot in March of 2016.

These regulations are deemed as serious situations since the government will most likely be more involved in the marijuana industry both recreationally and medically, according to reformca.com.

“The state is being smart to decriminalize it, regulate it, sell it and tax the hell out of it,” said Gaines.
And that’s exactly what they plan to do, with the industry estimating to be $8 billion in revenue by 2018, according to Forbes Magazine.

Although some of the growers are upset of the state’s push to make decisions, there are positives to this regulation process.

“I think it is fair, because you can’t just grow weed. There are specifications in order to make it potent, if you do it the wrong way then you will be wasting weed,” said Mora.