California recreational marijuana supporters have until July 5th to collect 366,000 signatures from registered voters to qualify the bill for the November ballot. Sean Parker, formerly with Facebook and Napster, is leading the initiative with support from activists, environmentalists, entrepreneurs and state politicians, according to ABC 7.
The California Medical Association (CMA) recently announced its support for the initiative.
CMA spokeswoman, Molly Weedn, said that, “We feel that this initiative specifically is in line with the concerns we had for better monitoring and research of cannabis.”
A statement released by the CMA included that the members of the association are particularly interested in provisions of the proposal that plan for the expansion of marijuana research.
Some of California’s recreational marijuana regulations would include:
- Non-medical sales would include a 15-percent excise tax
- Persons 21 and older could purchase up to 1 ounce of marijuana
- Persons over age 21 could grow up to 6 plants
The estimated tax dollars that could come from recreational marijuana sales are hovering around the $1 billion mark, according to the state’s legislative analyst and finance director.
The CMA has hopes that legalizing recreational marijuana in the state will remove those in the medical marijuana system without genuine qualifying conditions.
All of the signatures collected in support of legalizing recreational marijuana in California will be verified and must come from a registered voter residing in California.