Photo by flipperman75.

Today, the District published a revised set of rules and regulations for the city’s medical marijuana program, which is set to kick off in earnest in January 2011. But despite the hopes of many, the system being put in place to regulate the growth, sale and use of medical marijuana hasn’t gotten any less restrictive.

A first set of rules was published in early August, sketching out a tightly controlled, citywide program which would allow only five dispensaries to provide marijuana to qualifying patients and 10 cultivation centers to actually grow it. The rules also limited the amount of marijuana any patient could have in a 30-day period (two ounces) and how many plants any cultivation center could grow at once (95), prohibited home-growing and established registration fees that are so high as to potentially make the system unworkable.

During a 45-day public comment period, a number of medical marijuana advocacy organizations provided input in hopes of changing some of the most restrictive rules. From the look of the revised rules to be published today, it looks like they got some of the changes they wanted, but not all.

Among the most substantial changes is the removal of any reference to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration, which was initially tasked with regulating dispensaries and cultivation centers. In its place will be a new four-member board “delegated by the Mayor to conduct registration, licensing, and enforcement proceedings involving cultivation centers and dispensaries.” Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group, pushed for this change in comments (PDF) it submitted, writing, “ABRA lacks the qualified personnel and institutional framework to possess or develop an expertise on the science, research, and integrated health issues concerning the use of cannabis for medical treatment.”