At least one California senator is saying what many have long suspected: that the regulatory framework needed for the legal sale of recreational marijuana in California won't be in place by next year.
"Being blunt, there is no way the state of California can meet all of the deadlines before we go live on January 1, 2018,” said Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, who heads the Senate Governance Finance committee and is known for his expertise on marijuana policy. "We are building the regulatory system for a multibillion dollar industry from scratch.”
There is precedence for this. California legalized medical marijuana in 1996, but it took two decades for the in-store licensing system to get up and running.
Not so fast. Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the state’s new Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation, disagrees with the senator. While he acknowledges the monumental task at hand, he is confident that the state will meet its 2018 target.
“We’ve all along said that we’re going to meet that deadline and we’re confident that we will be able to do it,” Traverso said. “We’re right on schedule as far as we’re concerned.”
Who is right? Only time will tell.