Pubdate: Thu, 04 Jul 2013
Source: Del Mar Times (CA)
Copyright: 2013 MainStreet Communications
Contact:  http://www.delmartimes.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5453
Author: Karen Billing

DEL MAR SCHOOL BOARD DELAYS MARIJUANA RESOLUTION

The Del Mar Union School District board will wait until the San Diego
City Council is closer to making a decision on its medical marijuana
ordinance before they weigh in on the topic, the board decided at its
June 26 meeting.

A resolution was brought before the board to approve but it decided to
hold off taking any action.

Board president Doug Rafner said he was concerned that a resolution
might be considered too political.

"I don't want to come down on one side or the other, all I know is it
shouldn't be near a school," Rafner said.

In April, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner proposed an ordinance that would
allow dispensaries in community commercial as well as industrial
zones, including locally Flower Hill Promenade, Del Mar Heights
Village on Mango Drive close to Del Mar Hills Academy school, and the
future Pacific Highlands Ranch Village Center, down the street from
Sycamore Ridge.

On April 22, the San Diego City Council did not back Filner's proposal
and directed city staff to draft a new ordinance, going back to the
language similar to the city's 2011's ordinance. Council also
requested that dispensaries be located at least 1,000 feet from
"sensitive uses" such as schools and at least 100 feet from
residential zones.

Sending back the mayor's proposed ordinance took many of the proposed
community commercial zones off the list. The closest possible location
to Carmel Valley would be in Sorrento Valley, off Roselle Street.

For trustee Scott Wooden, Roselle Street is still too uncomfortably
close to his Torrey Hills home.

"I would prefer it not be a bike ride away where my kids could go,"
Wooden said.

A handful of speakers came to the meeting to applaud the board for
wanting to make its voice known on this issue.

Resident Peggy Walker, who has worked with the San Dieguito Union High
School District on drug and tobacco use prevention, said that while
tobacco use has plummeted among teens, 89 percent of teens do not
believe marijuana to be harmful and are using the drug more widely
because it is easily accessible. Barbara Gordon, a member of the
Torrey Pines High School Foundation, said that former Principal Brett
Killeen has reported finding dispensary bottles on campus.

"It's essential to protect the health and welfare of our kids," Gordon
said. "Pot shops have a negative impact on the most vulnerable members
of our community, our kids."

Judi Strang, the executive director of the San Dieguito Alliance for
Drug Free Youth, has been a part of the county's prevention
collaborative Health Advocates Rejecting Marijuana (HARM), which has
taken a look at pot shops since 2005. There were 230 at their peak in
the county but that has now diminished to about 35, the majority of
them in Pacific Beach.

Strang said 85 percent of cities in California have banned pot shops
and 17 of 18 cities in San Diego County have - San Diego is the one
that has not. While it is illegal in the city, there is no ordinance
against it.
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