Pubdate: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA) Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Newspaper Group Contact: http://www.presstelegram.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/244 POT POLICY Court Has Given Cities Notice That They Can No Longer Regulate Medical Marijuana Sales, So It's Past Time to Ban Dispensaries When California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, their intent was to provide compassionate care to patients by legalizing the use of marijuana to ease pain from illnesses such as cancer. Prop. 215 was never meant to give the green light to the hundreds of profit-making dispensaries that have cropped up in the years since to sell marijuana to people who don't need it. But intent and reality collided, and the result has been a muddled mess for the cities, such as Los Angeles and Long Beach, that tried to accommodate both dispensaries and the needs of citizens. It has been a perilous road that has now come to a cliff, and Long Beach and Los Angeles should take a step back before they plunge over. The two cities are contemplating reversing years of policy and banning dispensaries altogether. It's not only the right choice - it's the only responsible choice. No matter how the members of the L.A. and Long Beach city councils feel about medical marijuana use, they must face the reality that a state court has ruled that while a city can ban marijuana outlets, it can't regulate them, which both cities have tried to do. The rationale is that cities can't regulate a business that violates federal law. Further, a ban on dispensaries won't negate Prop. 215 - legitimate medical marijuana patients still have the right to grow their own. L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents Eagle Rock, which has more than its share of medpot dispensaries, is leading the call for a ban in Los Angeles. He maintains that illegal dispensaries are opening daily, some close to schools and parks. That proposal was heard by the council's Public Safety Committee on Friday and is headed for the Planning Commission and City Council in coming weeks. In Long Beach, the City Council is scheduled to consider the fate of its medpot ordinance at its meeting Tuesday. Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and City Attorney Bob Shannon believe that the city has no choice but to shut down all dispensaries. He's right. Some critics ask, why now? There's good reason. Last fall an appeals court judge ruled in the case of Pack v. Long Beach that the city (and, by extension, all California cities) cannot limit or regulate dispensaries. Both Long Beach officials and marijuana advocates have taken their argument to the state Supreme Court, but it's unclear whether the high court will hear the case and, if so, what the outcome will be. In the meantime the court of appeal ruling throws wide open the door to the unchecked spread of dispensaries unless the two cities act soon. If there's no ban, Long Beach and Los Angeles could be overrun by the medpot outlets that are magnets for crime and gangsters. The four U.S. attorneys in California and the state attorney general, Kamala Harris, rightly say gangs and gangsters are profiting from the sale of marijuana. Like Prohibition, which had odd twists about what was banned liquor and what was medicine, the definition of medical marijuana has been blurred. The result, as one city official characterized it, is a sort of Wild West, where dispensaries crop up whenever and wherever a storefront becomes available. It's been a tremendous drain on law enforcement resources. In the words of Harris, "non-binding guidelines will not solve our problems - state law itself needs to be reformed, simplified and improved." We agree. It's time for cities to step back from the perils of medical marijuana dispensaries, and let the state define the terms of Prop. 215. It's time to tame the Wild West. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart