UCBA Trade Association Votes to Support City Of Lo

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UCBA Trade Association (UCBA), the largest trade association of Proposition D compliant medical marijuana dispensaries operating legally within the City of Los Angeles, voted unanimously to publicly support Proposition M, the City of Los Angeles sponsored cannabis regulatory ballot initiative.

Jerred Kiloh, the President of the UCBA, stated that “in the spirit of collaboration, the UCBA Board of Directors determined that the best approach to ensure uniform cannabis regulations for patients, communities and cannabis businesses is by working with the Los Angeles City Council rather than continuing to seek voter approval for our own initiative.  Proposition N was the catalyst that led to Proposition M and created a much broader inclusion of the overarching initiative.”

The UCBA and its partner, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), Local 770, successfully obtained support of their own initiative, the “Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act,” which would have allowed Proposition D compliant dispensaries to continue to operate until the City created their own licensing system. The UCBA initiative also provided for gross receipts taxes, stiff enforcement penalties and strict operational guidelines. The Los Angeles City Clerk validated the over 103,000 signatures gathered by registered voters and the City Council voted to put the measure, now known as Proposition N, on the March 2017 City ballot.

“Over a two month time period, 103,000 signatures were collected from City of Los Angeles voters which helped frame the conversation that led to the writing of Proposition M by the City Council’s leadership.  We are pleased that many of the ideas in our initiative are included in Proposition M. Our goal has always been to work with the City in writing an ordinance and to regulate cannabis business activity in light of Prop 64 and MCRSA,” noted Kiloh.

In October 2015, the state passed the “Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act” (MCRSA) which requires any local jurisdiction to explicitly permit or license cannabis activity.  This initiative is necessary to ensure that after January 1, 2018, any cannabis business activity will be allowed to operate in Los Angeles.

About the UCBA: UCBA Trade Association, is a trade association of Proposition D compliant medical marijuana dispensaries operating legally within the City of Los Angeles.  The association’s charter members include over 40 of the 135 legally authorized medical marijuana dispensaries in the City of Los Angeles. For more information, please visit our website at www.ucbatradeassn.com

Media Inquiries: Harvey Englander (213) 741.1500 x 518 or Harvey@ekapr.com