DATE: June 14, 2016
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Manager and City Attorney
SUBJECT
Title
Discussion of Possible Options Regarding Recreational Marijuana and Medical Marijuana
End
Body
SUMMARY
The purpose of this report is to advise the City Council of the recreational marijuana initiative measure that will likely appear on the November 8, 2016 statewide ballot and to identify possible actions the City might take in anticipation that such initiative measure passes.
With approximately 365,000 valid signatures needed to qualify, the proponents of the measure have submitted over 600,000 signatures. If the state Secretary of State certifies the measure by June 30, it will appear on the November 8, 2016 ballot and will require a simple majority of votes cast to become law. With reputable polls indicating 55% percent of California voters support the legalization of recreational use of marijuana, the Council may wish to consider a number of options at this time rather than waiting until after the measure passes. A link to the initiative measure can be found here.
BACKGROUND
Marijuana-related issues have been presented to California voters for more than forty years. In 1972, voters defeated an initiative measure (Proposition 19) that would have decriminalized marijuana offenses (66.5% against). Attitudes had changed significantly by 1996, when voters approved Proposition 215 (55% in favor), allowing medicinal use of marijuana. Proposition 215 was not fully implemented across the state because marijuana remained a controlled substance under federal law. For 2016, however, the state Legislature enacted, and the governor signed, comprehensive medical marijuana regulations without resistance from the federal government. Though now legal under state law, medical marijuana retail sales are prohibited in Hayward because of exclusionary zoning regulations, meaning because such use is not s...
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