With the first marijuana licenses due to be issued in January, California lawmakers proposed Thursday that growers and sellers be able to group multiple permitted operations together.

The change would allow a store that is licensed to sell marijuana for medical use to also sell pot for recreational use if it is licensed to do so. In addition, a marijuana store would be able to run a manufacturing operation at the same site, and businesses could group together multiple cultivation licenses in one facility, which would allow medical pot to be grown next to adult-use cannabis, said Hezekiah Allen, head of the California Growers Assn.

The measure also would repeal a rule that licensed medical-cannabis manufacturers can provide products only to medical pot retailers.

Lawmakers said the changes, which are contained in a bill by the Assembly Budget Committee that addresses inconsistencies and confusion created by past cannabis measures, will provide flexibility for license holders and convenience for customers.

While Allen supports allowing medical and recreational marijuana sales at the same location, he said his group is “concerned about the potential for ‘licensing clustering’ to be a way around limits on cultivation licensing.”

The measure also would repeal a rule that all customers at a recreational-cannabis retailer be 21 or older, allowing 18-year-olds at stores that provide medical marijuana.

Article and image(s) from: Los Angeles Times