Pubdate: Mon, 05 Apr 2010
Source: Sonoma Index-Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Sonoma Valley Publishing
Contact:  http://www.sonomanews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/415
Author: Bill Hoban

RAC DECLINES QUESTION ON MEDICAL POT

The Springs Redevelopment Advisory Committee declined Thursday to 
take a stand on banning the concept of a medical marijuana dispensary 
in the Springs.

Some months back, the panel decided that if it were asked to take a 
stand on an issue that wasn't on the panel's agenda, it would need a 
unanimous vote. It didn't even get to a vote Thursday as three panel 
members, during discussion, said they weren't comfortable voting on 
something that wasn't in the panel's purview. Springs resident Sioux 
Messinger asked the panel to take a stand against medical marijuana 
dispensaries in the Springs.

"Having a dispensary will bring a lot of problems," Messinger told 
the panel. She said once a dispensary is in place, it's hard to get 
rid of. She pointed out that the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce 
took a stand against dispensaries and Messinger said she had 
petitions signed by numerous business owners who were against a 
medical marijuana dispensary.

While Messinger is against the establishment of a dispensary in the 
Springs, she's said that there are safer ways patients could get 
medical marijuana. "There are six delivery services that will bring 
(medical marijuana) to your front door," she said. "I'm not against that."

Messinger cited numerous studies while asking for the ban. "In the 
City of Sonoma, former police Chief Paul Day called them a 'magnet 
for criminal activity,'" she said.

She urged the panel to be, "proactive and create a local ban."

With Messinger was current Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett, who said 
that Sonoma used zoning to keep a dispensary out. "If you're not a 
pre-approved business, you're not approved," he said. "The city 
relied on a zoning ordinance that doesn't recognize marijuana dispensaries."

Sackett said that Proposition 215, which allows medical marijuana 
dispensaries, was written with good intentions, "but it's a bad law."

Dave McCullick, vice president of Sonoma Patient Group, a medical 
marijuana dispensary in Santa Rosa, said a dispensary provides 
patients with safe access to medical marijuana.

"We test our medical marijuana. And we're properly licensed," he 
said. "It makes a community safer. We have guards and security 
cameras both inside and outside."

McCullick pointed out that Oakland had regulated dispensaries.

And he said that a bank has a better chance of being robbed than a 
medical marijuana dispensary.

"We haven't had any stickups," he said. "We've had some attempted 
break-ins. But security is tight."

Friday, though, four gunmen robbed a medical marijuana clinic on 
Santa Rosa Avenue, just outside the Santa Rosa city limits. Although, 
the robbery didn't occur at the clinic McCullick is associated with.

He said that a dispensary needs to go in a commercial zone that's 
easily seen from the street.

"We want to be in Sonoma Valley," McCullick said. And he said his 
clinic looked at a location on Fremont Drive but decided it was too isolated.

After listening to both sides, during discussion, Boardmember Dave 
Whiteley said he needed more information before he could make a 
decision. And fellow Boardmember Ryan Lely said he agreed with 
Whiteley that he needed more information and that the panel was 
getting, "into a political question that's beyond our scope."

Boardmember Steve Cox made it a third.

"If someone wants funding to open a clinic, that's a pretty tall 
hurdle," Cox said. "A dispensary is not in our strategic plan."

And he too said he thought it was a political question that was out 
of the panel's purview.

With that said, the proposed ban didn't even make it to a motion.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake