I urge you to oppose AB1530 Communities across the state looked at the passage of Prop 64 with a hopeful eye, optimistic for a legal cannabis industry and the many new employment opportunities that could jumpstart the economies of so many people. However, with less than a quarter of California cities and counties currently allowing operational legal markets, the reality is that many people do not have access to the products that they voted to legalize across the state. These local bans, coupled with the lack of licenses issued, have prevented hard-working small-business owners from operating legally – and have encouraged the grey-market operators to continue disadvantaging licensed operators. However, when the BCC mandated that statewide cannabis deliveries be allowed, these changes to regulations represented the culmination of the will of our state’s voters and was a great step towards helping our cannabis businesses to operate in a thriving, legal marketplace. Furthermore, data shows us that equal access delivery is the antidote to the illicit market. Since the BCC clarified the legality of equal access delivery tens of thousands of legal deliveries have been made in places that would have formerly had no access and still have no retail storefronts. This tells us there is a demand for legal cannabis in these areas, and these consumers will return to the illicit market without access to delivery. A thriving legal cannabis marketplace is a positive step forward in the best interest of all Californians. Protecting access through licensed delivery services is essential in making sure that we continue to halt the illicit market, generate state revenue, and make sure we manifest the will of the California voters. For all of these reasons, we urge you to oppose this bill.

I support safe, legal marijuana delivery in the state. I hope you will too by opposing AB-1530. This bill seeks to take a step backward by allowing bans on licensed delivery services. Prop 64 realized that we needed to cut out the illicit market by giving access to a regulated system that protects consumers and allows them to purchase safe cannabis products. Given the vast areas of our state that prohibit cannabis retailers from operating, many medical and adult-use consumers rely on these licensed delivery services as their only feasible path into the legal marketplace. This is especially important for medical patients. Providing patients with appropriate access to legal and tested medical cannabis has and will continue to have profoundly positive effects on their health outcomes, as foreseen in the original enactment of Prop 215 / Compassionate Care. Please do the right thing for California’ patients and residents and work to protect and enhance safe, legal MJ delivery.

I urge you to oppose AB1530, legislation that would put an end to crucial statewide cannabis deliveries in our state. Delivery is a reliable option to relieve congestion of walk-in demand at dispensaries, and providing safe access under state regulation and control. Local bans on commercial cannabis have left over 76% of the state without access to cannabis retail businesses, leaving delivery as consumers’ only option to stay within the legal marketplace. California voters supported Prop 64 because they wanted to replace the illicit market with a legal system that would allow citizens to have safe access to cannabis, and create good jobs and valuable tax revenue for the state. These goals can only be accomplished if we continue to allow for ample cannabis delivery licenses. By allowing delivery businesses to make licensed deliveries into all jurisdictions throughout the state, we are finally creating a legal cannabis marketplace that is open and–more importantly–readily available for all Californians. I ask you and your colleagues to protect what we voted for, and the BCC confirmed in January, and ensure legal cannabis delivery in California. For these reasons, we urge you to oppose this bill.

I believe it is WRONG for our state lawmakers to try to prohibit legal marijuana delivery in our state. Beyond tamping out the illicit market, providing the state with appropriate access to legal and tested medical cannabis will help patients and grant the larger population with the full access to cannabis approved by voters. Please work with your colleagues to implement delivery of cannabis as soon as possible. Thank you for all your work on this important issue.

I am writing to urge you to oppose AB1530, legislation that would prevent California’s patients from receiving better and safer access to cannabis through legal cannabis delivery in California. Providing patients with appropriate access to legal and tested medical cannabis will have profoundly positive effects on their health outcomes, as foreseen by those who originally backed Proposition 215. However, the legal cannabis market in California has been stalled dramatically, impacting veterans, patients, seniors, and people with disabilities who depend on medicinal cannabis treatments. Currently there are vast areas of the state where patients cannot obtain medicinal cannabis, or they are required to drive long distances to obtain it. This is why licensed delivery is literally a lifesaver for many Californians. California already allows dispensaries to deliver medical cannabis to certified patients who are registered to receive the product. For these patients, traveling to a dispensary can be burdensome and even painful. Those who rely on cannabis to treat their serious ailments, and those of their sick children, are being robbed of convenience and peace of mind, and pushed back into the illicit underground market. Ensuring access is particularly important in areas with populations of patients with conditions for which cannabis has a demonstrated and effective medical application, such as cancer, epilepsy, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and PTSD. I urge you to support legal, safe and taxed cannabis delivery! Thank you for protecting the legal cannabis market by opposing AB-1530.

Please protect legal marijuana delivery! It is critical for establishing a real cannabis marketplace and all of the opposition I’ve heard does not seem to be based in facts. Medical marijuana delivery has not resulted in unauthorized access or other misconduct (which are required to be reported to law enforcement authorities). Instead, it has long provided access to patients who rely on these services to get their medicine. Without these services, we would essentially be rejecting patients their medicine under the guise of local government control. There are still many people who are unable to obtain cannabis products. Patients without access to transportation or who live far from the nearest licensed cannabis business still face enormous challenges in getting legal access. In such cases, regulated delivery services provide the only way to guarantee these people safe access. More importantly, providing patients with appropriate access to legal and tested medical cannabis will have profoundly positive effects on their health outcomes, as foreseen in the 2012 medical marijuana law. Please join me in opposing AB-1530. Deliver on what we voted for, and keep statewide delivery alive and well. Thank you for your time and consideration.

I hope that you and your colleagues will protect safe, legal delivery of cannabis in California by opposing AB-1530. The complex patchwork of local rules on cannabis licensing has both confused and limited access for patients and consumers, leaving many in a position where they are forced to travel long distances. For seniors, the disabled, or moms with sick kids who need their cannabis medication to function in everyday life, these kinds of trips aren’t feasible, and are oftentimes impossible. This is why statewide delivery is so important for our state. It gives people in these situations the safe legal access that they deserve. While we work on getting a greater number of retail licenses available across the state, delivery services provide the essential lifeline to these people. Furthermore, by providing patients with appropriate access to legal and tested medical cannabis will have profoundly positive effects on their health outcomes. And equally important: providing the greater public with full access to products is consistent with the intent of the law approved by voters two-years ago. Thanks for all of your hard work on this matter and please join me in opposition of AB-1530.

I’m reaching out to you today to urge to oppose AB-1530, legislation regarding the critical issue of safe, legal access to cannabis in our state. While adult-use cannabis is now “legal,” the severe lack of licenses for retail access have allowed illegal operators to happily fill that void. As much as 80% of the cannabis sold in California comes from the black market, according to an estimate by New Frontier Data. It is clear that the bevy of local bans inadvertently support markets for illegal operators to sell untested, illicit products. The only way we will successfully eliminate the illicit market for cannabis is by ensuring there is enough legal access to meet demand. In fact, sufficient retail access is the single biggest determinant of the long-term success of the regulated market. The clarification by the BCC in January to provide Californians with cannabis delivery has had a profound impact on their ability to access safe, legal cannabis. If we get rid of licensed deliveries statewide, we are severely cutting down that important access. Please do not violate the voters’ will! Protect legal cannabis delivery for California. Thank you.

I’m contacting you to urge you to oppose AB-1530 and voice my support for legal cannabis delivery in California. I believe that delivery has been able to help combat one of the common criticisms of the legal marketplace: the illicit market. One of the primary drivers of the illicit cannabis market is insufficient access to legal points of sale. With limited access to a limited number of legal cannabis dispensaries, some consumers are forced to seek less safe access options through the illegal market. This is because about 40 percent of the state “have to drive 60 miles or more to find a licensed dispensary to buy legal marijuana,” as reported by The Sacramento Bee. Illegal providers cannot be held accountable and are not bound by law or industry best practices. Allowing for regulated delivery services has helped provide a greater number of legal access points, reducing demand from illegal market operators and tamping down the illicit market. Statewide licensed delivery can ensure that consumers are getting safe products without having to navigate the complex licensing structure. Thank you and you colleagues for your continued commitment to ensure the safe, responsible, and equitable rollout of the state’s legalized cannabis industry. Please join us in opposing AB-1530.