James has six years of successful experience in medical cannabis permitting, lobbying, regulation, and litigation throughout California, including LA, Riverside County, Kern County, Contra Costa County, Stanislaus County, Sacramento, Santa Clara County, Stockton, Richmond, San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland. In 2008 he directed the campaign for Berkeley’s Measure JJ, the first medical cannabis zoning ordinance passed by initiative. He also authored the 2009 Oakland business tax on cannabis-related businesses, the first such tax in the nation. In 2007, James succeeded in obtaining Mayor Ron Dellums support for Congressional DEA oversight hearings—making him the first mayor to show such support, later joined by many others.