Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jul 2012
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Katherine Poythress

DISPENSARY ISSUE PLACED ON IMPERIAL BEACH BALLOT

Medical Marijuana Group Submitted Enough Valid Signatures on Petition

IMPERIAL BEACH - Amid thunderous applause and cheers, the Imperial 
Beach City Council voted 4-1 last week to let voters decide in 
November whether they want to lift the city's ban on medical 
marijuana dispensaries.

The vote came just weeks after residents submitted a petition 
containing at least 1,012 verified signatures, the percentage of 
registered voters required to qualify the proposed Safe Access 
Ordinance of Imperial Beach for appearance on ballots.

Council members also voted unanimously to craft their own measure 
that would compete with the ordinance in November.

To the surprise of supporters and opponents alike, it was Mayor Jim 
Janney who moved to place the Safe Access item on the November ballot.

"It's a little bit disappointing, because I thought the council made 
the right decision last year when we voted on our existing 
ordinance," Janney said at the council meeting. "Our ordinance allows 
for collectives of three people or less. There are several things 
that I believe are wrong with this initiative, including some of the 
terms and conditions, but I believe people have the right to vote in 
California, and I move to adopt the recommendation."

After the gasps and applause subsided, he proceeded to hear testimony 
from the dozens of green-shirted advocates for the measure filling 
the council chamber and a nearby overflow room. Most appeared to be 
in their 20s and cited San Diego addresses, although a few locals 
spoke strongly in favor of the proposal. A handful of opponents spoke 
against it, but none were from Imperial Beach.

The six-page ordinance for Imperial Beach was co-sponsored by the San 
Diego chapter of Americans for Safe Access and grass-roots 
organization Canvass for a Cause. It is crafted to ensure "that 
seriously ill Californians and residents of the city of Imperial 
Beach can obtain and use cannabis for medical purposes where that 
medical use has been deemed appropriate by a physician in accordance 
with California law," according to the document.

The measure would allow patients to smoke inside a dispensary if 
certain requirements are met, and allow the shops to operate from 6 
a.m. to 11 p.m. It does not include any special fees to help offset 
the cost of regulation and enforcement.

Janney said he did not want to assign city staff to conduct a study 
of the matter before placing it on the ballot, because they studied 
it recently. Last June, the City Council voted to ban medical 
marijuana dispensaries in lieu of developing zoning and regulations 
for restricted access.

The council reasoned at the time that two stores just outside the 
city limits were sufficient to provide patients with enough legal 
access to medical marijuana to comply with California's 1996 
Compassionate Use Act. Since then, one of those stores has buckled 
under pressure from a federal campaign to shut down dispensaries 
across the state, and the other operates only intermittently.

"I don't want to ask for the city to produce more paper, because 
nothing has changed," Janney said at the council meeting. "The 
federal law is still the same."

The recent crackdown has cities hurrying to protect themselves from 
possible legal entanglements with the federal government.

A July 17 letter from U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy to Del Mar's city 
attorney about a similar marijuana dispensary ordinance in that city 
reinforces the federal government's position that "growing, 
distributing, and possessing marijuana, in any capacity, other than 
as part of a federally authorized research program, is a violation of 
federal law regardless of state laws permitting such activities."

She goes on to state that any individuals and 
organizations  including state and city employees  that participate 
in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana "could be subject to 
civil and criminal remedies."

The mayor said he begrudgingly voted to place the issue on ballots, 
and his irritation grew as speech after speech ended with a demand 
that the City Council fulfill its legal obligation to put the 
question to voters.

"I love that all you like to 'demand' when you didn't even listen to 
what the council is doing," he said.

Imperial Beach business owner and Safe Access proponent Marcus Boyd 
said he never saw this decision coming, after last year's contentious 
battle over the issue.

"I applaud each and every one of you," he told the council members. 
"You shocked me. I don't know what to attribute it to. I could be 
cynical about it, and mean, but that would just be letting the past 
rule the future and I'd like to try to have this water under the 
bridge and have a fresh beginning."

Councilman Edward Spriggs cast the lone vote in opposition. He said 
the proposition is flawed and should include more restrictions that 
would alleviate residents' concerns about dispensaries' proximity to 
family activities.

A subcommittee consisting of councilmen Spriggs and Brian Bilbray 
will work with the city attorney to develop the council's alternative 
and are expected to submit it for council approval at an Aug. 1 meeting.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom