Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jun 2010
Source: North County Times (Escondido, CA)
Copyright: 2010 North County Times
Contact: http://www.nctimes.com/app/forms/letters/index.php
Website: http://www.nctimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1080
Author: Mark Walker
Video: Of the meeting http://mapinc.org/url/LsDJS1YY
Cited: San Diego County Board of Supervisors 
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/general/bos.html
Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/San+Diego+County
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Americans+for+Safe+Access

SUPERVISORS ADOPT RESTRICTIVE MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORDINANCE

Advocates Say Restrictions Are Far Too Stringent

County supervisors on Wednesday adopted medical marijuana dispensary 
regulations that critics say severely limit where the embattled 
collectives can locate.

Supervisor Ron Roberts cast the lone vote against the measure, saying 
a last-minute amendment from Supervisor Dianne Jacob that pared the 
list of locations in unincorporated areas from 25 to as few as 15 was 
too restrictive.

"I am concerned that we are reducing the number of sites down to next 
to none," said Roberts, who has consistently been at odds with his 
fellow supervisors in their battle against medicinal marijuana. "I 
think we're violating the spirit of the law."

So did many of the more than 100 people who packed the supervisors' 
room at the County Administration Center in downtown San Diego for 
the latest round in the county's years-long fight against medical marijuana.

Oceanside's Jeeni Criscenzo said she began smoking marijuana for 
cancer pain three years ago. The county's resistance to medical 
marijuana "forced me to act outside the law for my own health," she 
said. "You have more regulations in this ordinance than a pharmacy has."

Those regulations include limiting dispensaries to industrial zones, 
requiring a licensed, armed guard; video monitoring; precise records 
of all transactions, including the names of marijuana suppliers and 
their addresses; and no selling of any marijuana-laced food or drink products.

That drew the ire of Neal Plastik, who said the drug works far better 
for him than conventional painkillers.

"You shouldn't be regulating people who are just trying to help other 
people," he said.

Jacob's amendment increased the minimum distance between dispensaries 
and homes from a proposed 500 feet to 1,000 feet, and from a proposed 
600 feet from churches, parks and schools to 1,000 feet.

Valley Center's Eugene Davidovich, spokesman for the group Americans 
for Safe Access, which claims a local membership of several thousand, 
contended that shuts out dispensaries entirely.

"What they have done is eradicate medical marijuana anywhere in the 
county," he said after the meeting.

A county spokesman said planners maintain there are at least 15 
potential sites under the guidelines, which mirror those in place for 
strip clubs. Three of those sites are in Ramona and two in the San 
Dieguito area.

The regulations also require dispensary operators to pay up to 
$20,000 to obtain a license, money the Sheriff's Department will use 
to pay for inspectors and assure compliance with state and county laws.

In subsequent years, operators will be required to pay a lesser 
amount still being determined as an annual fee required to stay in business.

Several speakers urged supervisors to reject dispensaries entirely, 
saying they send the wrong message to kids that marijuana use is acceptable.

"Dispensaries are nothing more than storefronts for illegal 
distribution of marijuana," said Barbara Gordon, a county resident 
whose statement typified the anti-dispensary testimony.

The supervisors' battle against medical marijuana stretches back to 
2005, when North County Supervisors Bill Horn and Pam Slater-Price, 
along with Jacob, voted to oppose a state law requiring counties to 
create medical marijuana registries and issue identification cards to patients.

Around the same time, the county district attorney's office also took 
an aggressive stance, and local law enforcement officials helped 
federal drug agents crack down on dispensaries operating inside cities.

In 2006, the supervisors filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 1996 
initiative approved by state and county voters allowing the use of 
medical marijuana. After losing in lower courts, the case ended last 
year when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider it.

Shortly before the vote Wednesday, Horn and Supervisor Greg Cox said 
they remain frustrated that federal law bans medical marijuana, 
prohibiting its distribution by regular pharmacies filling a doctor's 
prescription.

"It should be dispensed at a pharmacy, and not in a brown paper bag 
at special locations," Horn said.

Davidovich, who said he uses medical marijuana for chronic pain, said 
his group will seek to continue working with county officials to 
modify the regulations.

"It's very disappointing," he said after the ordinance was approved. 
"They are not helping patients." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake