id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cjel-3541	Warren, Gina S.	Regulating Pot to Save the Polar Bear: Energy and Climate Impacts of the Marijuana Industry	2019	48	.pdf	application/pdf	19411	1092	50	392 COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW [40:3 i. State Trends to Legalize California became the first state in 1996 to allow patients to use marijuana for medical purposes.24 California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996 did not legalize the drug, but did decriminalize the cultivation and use of marijuana for qualifying patients who were seriously ill.25 Several years later, California set up a voluntary patient registration program,26 whereby patients were given identification cards to enable law enforcement to easily identify those patients who may cultivate, possess, transport, and consume marijuana without prosecution.27 Patients, or their primary caregivers, may typically cultivate up to six mature or twelve immature plants for their personal use,28 but may grow more if a doctor says that they need more to adequately treat their illness.29 In addition, cooperative or collective marijuana cultivation is 24. Id. 412 COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW [40:3 producers, because any regulatory agency that receives federal funding risks losing those funds by enacting regulations to facilitate marijuana cultivation.144 This has led some municipalities and counties to refrain from enacting a regulatory framework, which in turn has resulted in continued misuse of natural resources and damage to the climate.145 Many point to the federal prohibition and the concern for loss of funding, or worse, as the “biggest impediment to curbing the impacts of marijuana cultivation.	cache/cjel-3541.pdf	txt/cjel-3541.txt