The California Medical Marijuana Program is a ballot initiative under Ballot Proposition No. 215, which was approved by the voters on November 6, 1996. The statute removes state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession, and cultivation of marijuana by qualifying patients who have been diagnosed with debilitating medical conditions and certified as so by a physician.
On January 1, 2004, Senate Bill 420 became law which, among others, requires the California Department of Public Health (DPH) to establish and maintain the voluntary registration of qualifying patients and their primary caregivers in the statewide identification card system. The identification system intends to help law enforcement officers identify and verify that cardholders are able to cultivate, possess, and transport certain amounts of marijuana without being subject to arrest.
The law also requires that qualified patients or primary caregivers may possess no more than eight ounces of dried marijuana per qualified patient. In addition, a qualified patient or primary caregiver may also maintain no more than six mature or twelve immature marijuana plants per qualified patient.
The Medical Marijuana Program was further updated in August 2008, when the Office of the Attorney General issued the Guidelines for the Security and Non-Diversion of Marijuana Grown for Medical Use.
Caregiver Laws
Under California Medical Marijuana Program, a primary caregiver is an individual or a licensed medical clinic designated by the qualifying patient who shall perform the responsibilities for the health and safety of that patient.
An individual may serve as primary caregiver for more than one qualifying patient provided that such caregiver resides in the same county as the patients.
To be designated as a primary caregiver, a person must be at least 18 years of age, unless he is an emancipated minor or the parent of a minor child who is a qualified patient. The primary caregiver does not need to be a resident of California county where the application is submitted, but he must provide information on his residence.
Dispensary Laws
The California Medical Marijuana Program mandates that qualifying patients and primary caregivers organize into a collective or cooperative for the cultivation and distribution of marijuana for medical purposes.
Medical marijuana storefront “dispensaries,” which had been operating in the states for years are not recognized under the law. In the guidelines issued by the Office of the Attorney General in 2008, the only recognized group entities that can dispense medical marijuana are the collectives or cooperatives properly organized under the law.
Any group that wishes to form a cooperative under the Medical Marijuana Program must file its articles of incorporation with the State and conduct its business for the mutual benefit of its members. The group has to be properly organized and registered under the Corporations of Food and Agricultural Code.
Growing Laws
The Medical Marijuana Program allows the registered qualifying patient or the designated primary caregiver to cultivate/grow no more than six mature or twelve immature marijuana plants per patient.
If a person is acting as primary caregiver to more than one patient as authorized by law, he may aggregate or combine the cultivation limits per number of patients. Suppose the caregiver has five patients; by applying the guidelines, he may grow thirty mature plants (six mature plants/patient).
Similarly, collectives and cooperatives may cultivate and transport in aggregate or combine amount or quantity of medical marijuana plants depending on the number of its members.