San Dimas Planning Commission To Consider Issue SAN DIMAS - City staff are recommending a permanent ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, less than three weeks after the City Council approved a temporary ban. The San Dimas Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the recommendation at tonight's commission meeting. The unusually fast turn- around for the decision is disappointing, said Chris Fusco, a spokesman for the medical marijuana advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access. "It shows they didn't put much thought or research into it," Fusco said, noting that many cities have short-term moratoriums prohibiting the dispensaries. "One thing that we've noticed is that the quote- unquote 'moratoriums' occurring throughout Southern California are, in fact, de facto bans." [continues 191 words]
Chief Says Seizure Is Largest Within City WEST COVINA - Police busted an unlicensed medical marijuana dispensary last week, confiscating "Reefer's" peanut butter cups, pot brownies and marijuana-tinged barbecue sauce. West Covina police estimated that they confiscated more than 150 pounds of marijuana and more than $10,000 when they closed the dispensary on Friday. The dispensary was run by the same people who ran a similar facility in Hacienda Heights that was recently closed by the Los Angeles County, according to a medical marijuana advocacy group. [continues 607 words]
SAN DIMAS - San Dimas joined the ranks of other San Gabriel Valley cities last week and placed a temporary ban on medical marijuana dispensaries. The moratorium was spurred by a request to open a pot dispensary at 1173 Dixie Drive in northwest San Dimas. An organization called Helping Hands Collective Caregivers asked for a business license for the marijuana collective in March, said Dan Coleman, the director of development services in the Planning Department. "Because our zoning code doesn't list that as an allowable use, we couldn't approve it," Coleman said. [continues 277 words]
Officials Weigh State, Federal Law It's been 10 years since voters made medical marijuana legal in California, but in many San Gabriel Valley cities it has been a matter of months since officials began to consider how to regulate marijuana dispensaries. Called everything from "pot clubs" to "compassionate collectives," depending on who's talking, they are banned in several local cities, allowed in few, and temporarily not allowed in many cities where officials are still deciding whether to bar them or embrace them. Most cities in the San Gabriel Valley region do not currently allow dispensaries - Diamond Bar is a notable exception, where one dispensary is allowed. Whittier also permits them. [continues 511 words]
Councilman Bernard Parks balks at the fact that six recent hires have used drugs in the past. He says he will push for zero tolerance. Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks said Monday that he will ask the council to reinstate a zero-tolerance drug policy for the Los Angeles Police Department after learning that six people have been hired since 2003 who admitted to using felony-level drugs. Parks, a former police chief, said the council approved the zero-tolerance policy in 1996. But last year LAPD and city personnel officials acknowledged they have been allowing some recruits into the police academy who admitted past use of some "heavy" drugs, such as cocaine, methamphetamines or heroin. At the council's Public Safety Committee meeting Monday, officials said six such officers in all had been hired. [continues 453 words]
