NORTH COUNTY -- Medical marijuana dispensaries will not be coming to Del Mar and Solana Beach. Early returns Tuesday showed both initiatives -- called Proposition H in Del Mar and Proposition W in Solana Beach -- failing to meet the simple majority of votes needed to pass. "We're glad that it is going down to defeat," said Solana Beach Mayor Joe Kellejian. "The citizens of Solana Beach have made the right decision here." Solana Beach Councilwoman Lesa Heebner said, "It's no surprise. It was a flawed initiative." [continues 187 words]
Props. H, W would allow medical pot dispensaries in Del Mar, Solana Beach Voters in Del Mar and Solana Beach will decide in November whether to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in their cities. The city councils in both coastal cities voted in July to place a marijuana ordinance on the ballot. The proposals require that dispensaries operate away from residences and at least 600 feet from schools, playgrounds and other areas where children gather. The ordinances would limit storefront dispensaries to commercial and industrial areas and levy a 2.5 percent tax on retail transactions. They also would establish security measures and hours of operation and require licensing by existing city departments. [continues 607 words]
ENCINITAS -- Encinitas voters will get to weigh in on a medical marijuana initiative in November 2014, two years after neighboring North County cities get to cast their votes. After reviewing a report analyzing the effects of the initiative, the Encinitas City Council voted 4-0 Wednesday to place it on the city's 2014 general election ballot. Mayor Jerome Stocks was absent. "The voters need to make their case," Councilman James Bond said. Backers of the initiative, sponsored by Patient Care Association, turned in signatures in late July in an attempt to get the initiative on the November 2012 ballot. The County Registrar of Voters certified them Aug. 8, two days before the state imposed deadline for putting it on this year's ballot. To qualify, the council would have had to call a special meeting to vote to place it on the ballot, then file the paperwork with the registrar by the Aug. 10 deadline. The council was on summer recess, and no member called for such a meeting. [continues 163 words]
ENCINITAS -- Despite getting enough valid signatures to qualify for a ballot initiative, Encinitas will not be following neighboring North County cities in placing a medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot. The deadline to submit the paperwork was 5 p.m. Friday. The signatures were verified on Wednesday, but in order for the measure to have gotten on the ballot, the City Council would have had to call a special meeting to vote to place the measure on the ballot, then submitted the paperwork to the county Registrar of Voters by the Friday deadline. [continues 209 words]
Advocates Gather Signatures to Allow Dispensaries in the City; City Council Decides to Study the Issue Del Mar - After gathering almost double the number of signatures required to place an initiative on the November ballot, a group dedicated to improving access to medical marijuana asked the City Council last week to adopt an ordinance allowing for marijuana dispensaries in the city while also regulating and taxing them. Council members, faced with the choice to either adopt the ordinance as written, put the ordinance on the ballot or order a report on the measure, opted for the report. [continues 401 words]
