INDIO (CNS) - Marijuana consumers, cultivators, state and local officials will congregate in the Coachella Valley today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday) for the 2019 SoCal Cannabis Summit, highlighting commercial opportunities in the region, as well as clarifying some of the hazier aspects of the regulatory schemes affecting growers and sellers throughout Riverside County and the state.
``Coachella is excited to be hosting this summit,'' Coachella Mayor Steve Hernandez said last week. ``The cannabis industry is a major economic driver for the region, and especially the city, where it has paved the way for cultivation, manufacturing, testing and dispensary businesses. It is our hope
that this summit will help foster the critical collaboration needed between those who want to get into the cannabis industry, those who are currently in the business and the government entities that create policy, regulate and enforce it.''
The summit will be centered at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in
Indio, with several functions planned in the host city, Coachella.
According to organizers, the opening event will be a ``CannaBus
Tour,'' during which summit participants will be invited to ride aboard several
buses for a look r at marijuana cultivation sites in Coachella and surrounding
locations.
At 2 p.m., the Coachella Public Library will host a ``Compliance After
Licensing'' workshop, featuring speakers from the California Employment
Development Department, Franchise Tax Board, Department of Industrial Relations
and other entities.
The majority of speakers will be on the second day of the summit, with
Hernandez joining elected officials from Desert Hot Springs, Palm Desert
and Palm Springs in showcasing ``The State of Cannabis in the Coachella
Valley.''
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin will be addressing the
enforcement of cannabis controls. The Board of Supervisors last fall
implemented a regulatory framework that authorizes licensing a limited number
of cultivation and retail operations. However, none of the applicants being
reviewed by the county have been formally permitted to conduct business in
unincorporated communities.
A number of cities in the county maintain full-scale bans on any type
of commercial marijuana activity.
Other speakers on day two include Lori Ajax, chief of the California
Bureau of Cannabis Control, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma and longtime
pro-cannabis legalization activist Steve DeAngelo, who was among the leading
voices behind voter-approved Proposition 64, which was later codified under the
2017 Medicinal & Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation & Safety Act.
Former St. Louis Rams lineman Kyle Turley will also make a
presentation, describing the benefits of replacing prescription opiates with
medicinal marijuana for the treatment of his injuries, organizers said.
More information is available at https://www.coachellacannabissummit.com/.
Cannabis Advocates, Growers, State and Local Officials Gather In Riverside County for Summit
flickr
