California Lawmakers Have Opportunity To Ease Cultivation Penalties For Medical Marijuana Patients

The California Assembly will be voting this month on a bill that would reduce penalties for marijuana cultivation from a mandatory felony to a "wobbler" or optional misdemeanor.

Assembly Bill 1017 would allow prosecuters and courts the discretion of treating marijuana cultivation as a misdemeanor offense, avoiding costly felony charges against small-scale home growers and medical marijuana patients.

The bill is co-sponsored by Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster, who argues that it will save taxpayers money by avoiding unnecessary enforcement expenses in minor marijuana cases. The number of felony cultivation prosecutions has increased in recent years, costing the state tens of millions of dollars.

In testimony to the legislature, California NORML argued, "It makes no sense to punish responsible adults more harshly for growing their own marijuana at home than getting it from black market smugglers. Many medical marijuana patients end up with felony cases for growing gardens that they had grounds to believe were legal under Prop. 215. Patients should not risk felony prosecution just because of simple misunderstandings of current law."

AB 1017 was approved by the Public Safety Committee last session but fell short of the majority needed to pass the Assembly. It will be up for a final vote of reconsideration by January 20, 2012.

Urge your state assembly member to support AB 1017 by entering you zip code below. You can learn more about this measure and other pending marijuana law reform efforts in California at California NORML.