Oaksterdam University recently joined a campaign to oppose Assembly Bill 1725, which seeks to re-felonize the cultivation of only seven cannabis plants in California. Executive Chancellor Dale Sky Jones penned a letter to Assembly members expressing why small cannabis gardens are not a problem, and why we don’t need more small-time cannabis felony prosecutions in California. Here is a copy of the letter:
To the Honorable Assemblymember Mia Bonta, and Whom it May Concern,
Oaksterdam University has a long history of working to end unjust criminalization and prohibition laws in California. We have fought hard for safe access for patients and a legal and licensed marketplace that benefits small businesses and the communities where they operate. We strongly oppose AB 1725 because it sets back the progress we have fought so hard for and targets vulnerable communities. Black, Brown and Indigenous people are between four and 16 times more likely to be criminalized by this new law, based on history. This defies logic during social justice reforms considering the direct correlation to non-violent crimes and justifications to reincarcerate.
We agree with the intent of the bill to crack down on illegal cultivation sites that harm the environment and endanger the community. History tells us that the results of making any cultivation operation in the state that is more than six plants into a new felony will be targeting the most vulnerable Californians.
The state and localities have placed costly and onerous barriers to entry to the legal marketplace, which is constrained by in-state demand, despite the industry having a strong legacy of export. With high taxes at the point of sale, many of California’s legacy operators have struggled to survive in the legal market. Furthermore, with new regulatory hurdles medical cannabis patients must jump through in order to become recognized by the state, patients who grow for themselves and need more medicine than six plants can provide may now become felons for tending a home garden.
It seems the motivation for such legislation is civil asset forfeiture, or “robbery with a badge,” a core motivator of the War on Drugs which disincentivizes the use of police time to go after violent crimes in favor of those that are directly profitable to the police.
While we agree there should be support for law enforcement to stop large-scale illegal cultivation operations – especially those that harm the environment and endanger our communities – AB 1725 does not achieve this. Moreover, it supports the policing for profit that continues to target people already disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs.
We must learn from the failures of prohibition and support patients and small businesses rather than steal from them. The state should be expanding its outreach to these communities, providing more pathways to business ownership (including supporting the legal export of our state’s number one cash crop to other U.S. states) and allowing legalization to naturally put an end to illicit operations by supporting this newly legal industry and all of its stakeholders.
Warmly,
Dale Sky Jones
Executive Chancellor
Oaksterdam University
Campus 510.251.1544
3630 High Street #19271 Oakland, CA 94619
Read more about Oaksterdam’s advocacy here:
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