Pubdate: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA) Copyright: 2005 The Fresno Bee Contact: http://www.fresnobee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161 Author: Tim Sheehan, The Fresno Bee Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) VISALIA APPROVES NEW REGULATIONS ON MEDICAL POT Dispensaries Will Be Limited to Certain Zones. VISALIA - Jeff Nunes said he "absolutely" looks forward to complying with a new medical marijuana ordinance adopted Monday evening by the City Council. Visalia City Council members unanimously approved the new ordinance regulating where and how Nunes - who heads Visalia's only known medical marijuana dispensary - or others may grow, process, distribute and use marijuana for medical purposes according to state law. As the executive director of Visalia Compassionate Caregivers, Nunes provides marijuana to about 300 patients whose doctors have recommended the drug. He'll have four months to find property in the city's service commercial zone and relocate his dispensary from East Main Street, in the city's downtown commercial district. "We'll move wherever they want us to be," he said. Council Member Don Landers, a sheriff's lieutenant who was the lone vote against the ordinance in its first reading two weeks ago, offered the motion to approve the new law. "It was pretty clear two weeks ago which way the rest of the council was going to go with this," Landers said of the change in his position. "If you can't be part of the solution, you're part of the problem." Nunes said he welcomes the ordinance. He first approached the City Council in March asking for the city to develop rules permitting the responsible use, cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana for those who need it. "I think the city's doing a great job in that everything is going as smooth as it is," Nunes said after the vote. The ordinance itself walks a fine line between conflicting state and federal laws. Proposition 215, approved by 55.6% of California voters in November 1996, declared that ill people have the right to use marijuana for medical purposes when recommended by a doctor and allows possession or cultivation of marijuana by the patient or a "primary caregiver." The law also protects physicians from punishment for recommending marijuana to patients. Patients use marijuana to help relieve nausea from cancer treatments or AIDS, chronic pain from injuries or arthritis and symptoms from ailments such as glaucoma or anorexia. But medical use of marijuana is illegal under federal law, and federal agents can enforce that prohibition in California or other states with medical marijuana laws. A major provision of Visalia's ordinance, which takes effect in 30 days, is limiting medical marijuana operations to certain zones within the city. As drafted, the ordinance would allow medical marijuana dispensaries or cultivation only in pockets of the city zoned for service commercial uses. Most of that property lies east of downtown Visalia. Landers offered an amendment, agreed to by his council colleagues, that would also allow medical marijuana in agriculture zones. "To me, part of the solution is to allow this in the ag zones," Landers said. He expressed concern about having a dispensary or other medical marijuana businesses in the area east of downtown. "With all the things we're wanting to do with east downtown ... hopefully this will eliminate conflicts." Even in the allowed zones, medical marijuana operations would be prohibited within 500 feet of any residential zone or within 1,000 feet of "sensitive" uses such as schools, parks, libraries or churches. Nunes, who recently moved his offices from Mooney Boulevard to East Main Street, plans on separating different functions of his operation in order to comply. He'll move Visalia Compassionate Caregivers into a service-commercial area and cultivation to an agriculture zone. A related entity, Medicinal Marijuana Awareness and Defense, provides information and education services and will remain on East Main Street, Nunes said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake