Pubdate: Thu, 06 Jul 2017
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2017 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161
Author: Michael S. Green

FRESNO NEEDS A CANNABIS PLAN, NOT A BAN

Tens of thousands of people use cannabis in Fresno every day. Hundreds
of people work in the cannabis industry, though few will admit it
publicly -- and for good reason. Cannabis business is booming in
Fresno and Fresno County, even though cultivation and retail sales are
banned by local ordinances. The biggest pipe dream in Fresno is that
cannabis bans work. In reality, they don't.

Even so, the Fresno City Council just voted to prohibit dispensaries
and other "recreational" businesses made legal by the passage of
Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. This is disappointing
but not surprising. Medical cannabis has been legal since Proposition
215 passed in 1996, but City Hall has never bothered to draft local
regulations.

Cases in point: Larry Westerlund, the city's economic development
director, called Proposition 215 an "abortion of a law" as a sitting
council member in 2011. The same day, then-Deputy Chief Keith Foster
asked the council to extend a moratorium, claiming the city needed to
"research the complexities" of cannabis cultivation.

In 2014, a stony rap concert at Woodward Park prompted then-Council
Member Lee Brand to pitch a "three strikes" ordinance that would ban
cannabis users from city parks. The council declined to play along,
but the city and county both passed cultivation bans the same year.

What Mayor Brand, Police Chief Jerry Dyer and Sheriff Margaret Mims
won't admit is that prohibition laws directly contribute to illicit
cultivation and sales in Fresno. Drug dealers have zero competition
when lawful sales are prohibited, so bans are good for criminals.
(Foster's research confirms this.)

New state licenses include cultivation, distribution, transportation,
testing labs, manufacturing, dispensaries and deliveries. Fresno is
ideally suited to serve all of those sectors, but the city wants to
send jobs, tax revenues and customers anywhere but Fresno. That's a
job-killing recipe for failure, not economic development.

There are state-legal, tax-paying collectives in Fresno, too, but bans
don't reward good citizenship. Thankfully, times are changing. In
2015, the Legislature passed the landmark Medical Cannabis and
Regulation and Safety Act hoping to shape an anticipated legalization
initiative.

The strategy worked. In 2016, voters enacted Proposition 64, the Adult
Use of Marijuana Act, which expanded the licensing framework, reduced
criminal penalties, legalized personal use and cultivation by adults
21 and older, and established an excise tax that will generate
hundreds of millions of dollars annually for state and local programs.
(Spoiler alert: Ban cities don't get grant funds.)

Last month, the safety act and Prop. 64 were merged by Senate Bill 94.
The new state licenses include cultivation, distribution,
transportation, testing labs, manufacturing, dispensaries and deliveries.

Fresno is ideally suited to serve all of those sectors, but the city
wants to send jobs, tax revenues and customers to the Bay Area,
Coalinga, Merced, Modesto, Sacramento, Stockton, Los Angeles, the
Central Coast -- anywhere but Fresno. That's a job-killing recipe for
failure, not economic development.

As for Fresno State, my alma mater, failing to pursue Prop. 64-driven
research programs for industrial hemp hurts local farmers interested
in growing this important seed and fiber crop. Other campuses have
taken an early lead on hemp research. The Valley's epicenter of
agricultural education should not be barred from doing hemp research
just because the city's looming ban is poorly drafted.

The biggest failure of all is telling Fresno's most vulnerable
residents -- including seniors, veterans and children with chronic
illnesses -- that the city will not allow medical dispensaries within
its borders. It may be politically expedient to fight "recreational"
sales to adults, but it's flatly immoral to deny patients safe access
to medicine.

"In God We Trust" means trusting God's people to use God's healing
plants with wisdom. Or, the words are mere wall hangings, shiny but
hollow.

Either way, the June 22 vote shows the mayor and four council members
trust neither God's creation nor majority rule. Law-abiding cannabis
patients and adult users don't trust their police or city leaders.

This stalemate must end, and soon.

Here's how: Council members Clint Olivier, Esmeralda Soria and Oliver
Baines voted to uphold the will of the majority of voters who backed
Prop. 64. A fourth vote is needed to start drafting regulations.
That's a tall order but doable.

Or, Fresno can pretend it's a "dry" city, even though it's flooded
with cannabis businesses. That's not good public policy; that's
fantasy camp for theocrats.

Trust and defend democracy. It's your duty. More than 73,000 Fresnans
voted to regulate cannabis.

Don't let City Hall burn their ballots.

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Michael S. Green is a Fresno native and former print journalist. He
founded FresnoCannabis.org in 2010 after Fresno County passed a
cannabis cultivation moratorium. Now a consultant in Lake County, he
still advocates for Fresno cannabis patients.
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MAP posted-by: Matt