Pubdate: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 Source: Reporter, The (Vacaville, CA) Copyright: 2011 The Reporter Contact: http://www.thereporter.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/472 DISPENSARY BAN HAS SIDE EFFECT It comes as no surprise that Vacaville's City Council voted unanimously this week to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries from setting up shop here. The council, after all, initiated a moratorium on dispensaries nearly two years ago, and there have been no signs that officials were eager to change that situation. There are good reasons for the ban. In the 14 years since California voters became the first in the nation to approve the use of medical marijuana, it has become big business. Fourteen other states have followed California's lead, and another dozen are considering it. This week, Time magazine reported online that a new study estimates medical marijuana sales run about $1.7 billion a year -- comparable to the $19 billion annual sales figures for Viagra. No wonder medical marijuana dispensaries are flourishing in California, even though the attorney general has ruled that they are not necessarily legal. California law allows only patients themselves and their primary caregivers to grow or provide medical marijuana, although they may do so through nonprofit cooperatives or collectives. Too many of dispensaries cropping up these days, however, operate more like for-profit businesses with questionable client-eligibility practices. Vacaville certainly doesn't need that sort of business. The ban on dispensaries, however, raises questions about how legitimate patients in Vacaville are supposed to acquire medical marijuana. Police Chief Rich Word told the council that his department doesn't cite legitimate caregivers or patients, as long as they are following the law. That's great. But under this new ordinance, legitimate patients may find themselves out of compliance since the city's new rules define "dispensary" as any medical marijuana facility with "two or more qualified patients." It eliminates Vacaville residents' ability to form nonprofit cooperatives or collectives. Perhaps Vacaville patients don't mind traveling to Sacramento, Oakland or Vallejo to obtain medical marijuana, or calling upon services that deliver it. But if they do, they should let their council members know before the next meeting, when the ordinance will be finalized. Of course, the city wouldn't be stuck having to make decisions like this if the federal government would give up its out-of-date policies about marijuana. There is growing evidence that marijuana benefits patients in ways that synthetic marinol -- the only legally recognized form of the drug - -- cannot. The government should open the doors to more marijuana research so that drug companies could freely study its effects and, if warranted, develop standardized dosages and ways to ingest them. As it stands now, patients who rely on dispensaries are getting their medical marijuana from the equivalent of a liquor store, rather than a pharmacy, and that's crazy. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.