California city legalises marijuana cultivation

THE city of Oakland, California, has legalised large-scale marijuana cultivation for medical use and will issue up to four permits for “industrial” cultivation starting next year.

The move by the San Francisco Bay Area city aims to bring medical marijuana cultivation into the open and allow the city to profit by taxing growers.

The resolution passed the city council easily after a nearly four-hour debate that pitted small-scale “garden” growers against advocates of a bigger, industrial system that would become a “Silicon Valley” of pot. “This is going to grow as an industry. And someone is going to have a high-tech producer,” council member Jean Quan said.