Pubdate: Mon, 16 Dec 2013
Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Contact:  http://www.presstelegram.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/244

HOW SHOULD LB REGULATION MARIJUANA

The Long Beach City Council has been poised to lift the ban on 
medical marijuana facilities in the city, but ran into a snag last 
week. The council hoped to allow for no more than two medical 
marijuana dispensaries in each of the city's nine council district 
and limit them to industrial areas. Turns out it doesn't work out on 
a map. Some districts don't even have industrial areas. Back to the 
drawing board for them.

But for us, we thought it would be a good time to ask you how the 
city should regulate medical marijuana dispensaries.

Do you think the city should cap the number of facilities at 18 or 
relegate them just to industrial areas? What do you want to see in 
the regulation? And what are your greatest concerns? Are you worried 
about safety in the neighborhood? Maybe you don't want storefront 
sales at all and would like to keep the ban intact, even though the 
council looks like it is doing it as a pre-emptive step to avert a 
challenge at the ballot box.

Right now residents can form collectives and grow pot for personal 
medical reasons or for close friends and relatives that have a 
marijuana prescription. But storefronts and delivery services are banned.

Still, that doesn't stop these places from popping up. And while law 
enforcement officials have traditionally opposed unregulated 
dispensaries because of crime, there increasingly seems to be an 
acceptance from voters.

Last week, a Field Poll found growing support for pot legalization 
with a majority of California voters favoring it. And though 
California began the weed-friendly movement more than a decade ago 
allowing for the medical use of marijuana, Washington and Colorado 
were the first to legalize recreational use last year.

Now Uruguay , in a revolutionary social experiment, has legalized the 
pot business, framing it as a health issue while combating drug 
traffickers and a brutal drug trade.

Where does Long Beach fit in this international debate? How should 
our council regulate pot? We want to hear your proposals. Be creative, please.

Post your responses in the comments section below the online version 
of this editorial, or email your thoughts to Letters can also be submitted to the Press-Telegram, 300 Oceangate, 
Long Beach, CA 90844.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom