Growing marijuana at home: What’s legal?

A Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman reported no increases this year in neighbor complaints or raids on small-scale, home growing operations, but clearly medical marijuana still stirs much debate. The laws surrounding marijuana cultivation are vague at best and have become more vague over time. A brief history:

1996: Proposition 215 passes, making it legal for “seriously ill” Californians and their primary caregivers to grow marijuana for medical purposes if medical use has been recommended by a physician. No limit for how much marijuana a person with a recommendation can grow or possess is set at this time.

2004: Senate Bill 420, the Medical Marijuana Program Act, goes into effect. The bill establishes a voluntary registration of medical marijuana patients and their primary caregivers through a statewide identification card system. The bill’s guidelines state that a cardholder can possess up to 8 ounces of dried marijuana or may cultivate up to six mature or 12 immature plants. Individual counties may choose to set higher limits, but no county may set a lower limit.

2010: In People vs. Kelly, the state Supreme Court holds that patients can possess or cultivate as much as is “reasonably necessary.” They cannot be convicted simply for exceeding the possession or cultivation guidelines in SB 420; however, they can be forced to defend themselves in court.

— Deborah Netburn