Pubdate: Wed, 9 Sep 2009
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Page: B1
Copyright: 2009 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.signonsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Helen Gao, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
Cited: San Diego City Council http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/
Referenced: Attorney General's guidelines http://drugsense.org/url/kKMJR2lu
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries

TASK FORCE TO STUDY POT DISPENSARY ISSUES

San Diego will create a citizens task force to study how to regulate 
medical-marijuana dispensaries, which have proliferated throughout 
the city and stirred public safety concerns.

By a 6-1 vote yesterday, the City Council decided to form the task 
force, with Councilman Carl DeMaio dissenting and Council President 
Ben Hueso absent.

DeMaio and a half-dozen residents argued against the task force, 
saying the state has issued guidelines that just need to be enforced.

Several cities in the county either have banned marijuana 
dispensaries or put a moratorium on them pending regulation. In July, 
San Diego suspended approvals for new dispensaries, but more have popped up.

We need to get these regulations in place. It's a wild west out 
there," said Joshua Bilben, a San Diego resident who uses medical 
marijuana to ease chronic pain.

Claudine Scott with the East Village Association told the council 
that the city must strengthen its permitting process and give residents a say.

(The dispensaries) should go before the community to explain why they 
are needed in the neighborhood," Scott said.

San Diego, like many cities, lacks land-use guidelines governing 
where marijuana collectives or cooperatives may be located. Nothing 
in the city's regulations prevent them from opening next to schools, 
playgrounds or churches. Unlike liquor stores and adult businesses, 
dispensaries are not required to go through the Police Department to 
obtain permits before opening.

The council has set a deadline for the task force to return with 
proposed regulations by the end of the year. The 11-person group, 
whose members will be nominated by the City Council, is to include 
residents affected by dispensaries, operators of dispensaries, 
medical-marijuana patients, doctors and lawyers, among others.

A number of people who spoke at the meeting said state guidelines 
should simply be enforced.

There are abuses," DeMaio said. "You don't perpetuate abuses by 
having a task force look at a variety of nice ideas and options. You 
address the abuses by enforcing the law and relying on the Police 
Department to enforce the attorney general's clearly stated guidelines."

According to the guidelines, nonprofit pot collectives and 
cooperatives serving legitimate patients are legal if they follow 
rules, such as acquiring marijuana only from their members and 
verifying medical necessity. For-profit dispensaries are not legal, 
according to the state.

Several residents said dispensaries in their neighborhoods are 
nothing but for-profit enterprises. One Mission Beach resident who 
lives near a dispensary said he sees carloads of young people 
patronize the business.

The number of stores is not going up because the number of patients 
is going up," said Pacific Beach resident Scott Chipman. "The number 
of stores is going up because of profit."

Chipman presented the City Council with a list of more than 60 
dispensaries. That number is higher than the nine dispensaries that 
are officially registered with the city, officials said.

[Sidebar]

REGIONAL SITUATION

Ten cities in the county have banned pot dispensaries or put a 
moratorium on them.

Moratoriums:

Chula Vista

Imperial Beach

Oceanside

Bans:

El Cajon

Escondido

La Mesa

Lemon Grove

San Marcos

Santee

Vista
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake