CleverRoot

7 0 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t CANNABIS POLICY After 26 years running a suc- cessful dental practice in Clover- dale, California, Dr. Jim Wood left his medical career behind for the chance to change policy statewide from the State Assem- bly chambers in Sacramento. Today, Wood's district covers five counties in Northern California, including the three Emerald Triangle counties of Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt.Seth Doulton, Board of Equalization District Two Agriculture Liaison and The Clever Root's Govern- ment Consultant, recently sat down with this one-of-a-kind Sacramento influencer to discuss his work over the past decade. Seth Doulton: What drove you to leave the comfort of your dental practice to campaign for an assembly seat? Jim Wood: I first ventured into politics because I wanted to make a difference in my community.I enjoyed making patients feel better and helping them one at a time, but I wanted to do the same on a larger scale. With healthcare policies at the top of my concerns, I started my journey to Sacramen- to as many do—locally.I was first a member of the Planning Com- mission, then the City Council, and in a blink of an eye 12 years later, I was running for Assembly and was elected in 2014. You wasted no time getting to work. Your bill AB 243, which implemented state regulations for the lawful cultivation of medical marijuana under the Compassionate Care Act, was first introduced on the February 5, 2015. Was that your day-one project? It actually was very high on my list. When I was campaigning, I heard over and over about the need to have some framework for the medical cannabis indus- try, and in particular, that people largely wanted to control rogue cultivators who were destroying our beautiful watersheds with pesticides and fertilizers, as well as illegal water diversions and soils clogging our streams and rivers because of improper land grad- ing. I have to admit, I was not very familiar with how things worked in Sacramento, but I tried to hit the ground running. I was in Sacramento in 2015 and watched the 43 steps your bill took, and you looked like a sea- soned pro from my vantage point! It took five of us Assembly mem- bers—myself, Ken Cooley, Rob Bonta, Reggie Jones-Sawyer, and Tom Lackey—who worked very hard on SB 643, which ended up becoming a package of three bills now known as MCRSA (Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act). We had many late-night discussions and brought countless stakeholders to the table. Then came 2016 and the accel- erated deadline for Proposition 64. Did that speedbump from the opposition set you and your mission back at all? Of course, the unintended March 1 deadline for local jurisdictions to come up with their regulations and ordinances was unfortunate. Even though I ran an emergency bill in a little more than a month that struck the date, many jurisdictions took the easy way out and insti- tuted bans they have stuck with. That is still disappointing. Fast-forward to 2017 and the merging of Prop. 64 and MCRSA—how do you feel? Considering that Prop. 64 has a lot of what we worked so hard on in 2015, I am happy, but there are a few areas I'm not thrilled with.One area that I focused on in 2016 was the creation of a small growers' category, the cottage growers, which became AB 2516. My goal has always been to help the smaller growers in my district who have been growing for decades enter the regulated market, and I didn't want them left out.They are the life- blood and heritage of the cannabis industry. Also, the taxes in Prop. 64 were not reflective of our ongo- ing work, and I see issues going forward. I think they are too high and will once again make it harder for smaller businesses to succeed. But time will tell. Time will tell, indeed! What do you think about the regulations surrounding legal cannabis in California? Email your opinions to Rachel@TheCleverRoot.com for a chance to have your voice heard! Eel Riv Big Riv Trinity Riv Noyo Riv South Fork Trinity Riv Rancheria Crk Larabee Crk South Fork Gualala Riv South Fork Eel Riv Mattole Riv Trinity Riv District 1 District 3 District 4 District 10 District 11 Trinity Lk Arcata Bay Humboldt Bay District 2 Six Rivers Natl Forest Redwood Natl Pk Siskiyou Natl Forest Humboldt Redwoods State Park Humboldts Redwood State Park Jedediah Smith State Park Van Damme Beach State Park McKinleyville Windsor Ukiah Healdsburg Cloverdale Crescent City Hwy 1 Redwood Hwy State Hwy 3 Shoreline Hwy Hwy 116 California State Assembly District 2 Created From CRC Certified Map: crc_20110815_assembly_certified_statewide.zip SHA-1: 323d2c56df6bf3ad6b3b4e58fd7c5d0338a476b8 ¯ 0 10 20 30 40 Miles N Map created by Healthy City, a project of the Advancement Project, August 2011. Created from CRC Certied Map: crc_20110815_assembly_certied_statewide.zip SHA-1: 323d2c56df6bf3ad6b3b4e58fd7c5d0338a476b8. Basemap from US Census Bureau TIGER/Line Shapeles. The Path to Legalization WITH CANNABIS NOW OFFICIALLY LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA, THE CLEVER ROOT TAKES A LOOK BACK AT HOW STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBER DR. JAMES WOOD HELPED PAVE THE WAY FOR PROGRESSIVE POLICY, INCLUDING THE GAME-CHANGING PROPOSITION 64. Seth Doulton, right, with his friend Dr. Jim Wood, who serves as a California State Assembly member for five counties in Northern California, including the Emerald Triangle counties of Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt. by Seth Doulton District 2 in California is home to some of the state's key cannabis-growing regions. ■cr

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