Berkeley Measure JJ

[Jim Finnel]

Shall the City's ordinances be amended to eliminate limits on medical marijuana possessed by patients or caregivers; establish a peer review group for medical marijuana collectives to police themselves; and permit medical marijuana dispensaries as a matter of right under the zoning ordinance rather than through a use permit subject to a public hearing?

Majority Approval Required

If Measure JJ looks awfully familiar to Berkeley voters, there's a good reason. The issue originally appeared on the November, 2004 ballot as Measure R, with Alameda County declaring the measure a loser by 191 votes out of more than 50,000 cast. Measure R proponents filed a lawsuit charging that the ballots were improperly tallied by the old Diebold electronic voting machines. But in large part because the machines were returned to Diebold and erased, thus making it impossible to verify if the count had been accurate, a Superior Court judge ordered the measure put back on the ballot for this November.

So here we are again.

Measure JJ adjusts the laws governing legal medical marijuana growing and dispensation in Berkeley in several ways.

To help the city regulate existing medical marijuana dispensaries and to try to ensure that new dispensaries have a proper management and safety plan, Measure JJ proposes establishing something called a Peer Review Committee for such purposes. The Peer Review Committee will consist of appointed representatives of the marijuana dispensaries themselves, and will have no enforcement powers, only the power to make referrals back to city officials. While this would not eliminate the Berkeley Police Department from the regulation and law enforcement process, it would appear to serve to put the police in more of a criminal law enforcement mode with regard to the dispensaries, rather than the city's first line of regulation. Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to voters to decide.

The measure would raise the amount of marijuana that a single medical marijuana user could keep or grow in the City of Berkeley, as well as limiting the amount in the possession of a dispensary itself, substituting a statutory quantity for “a reasonable quantity of dried cannabis and cannabis plants to meet the medical needs of patient members.” If Berkeley residents who use marijuana for medical purposes need more marijuana than is called for in the present Berkeley ordinance, the raised amounts in the new ordinance would serve to reduce the amount of illegal marijuana bought by legal users in Berkeley. On the other hand, if the medical marijuana need is actually less than the newly proposed amounts, the excess will probably make its way onto the illegal market. Again, voters have to decide which is the best way to go.

Probably the most significant change proposed by Measure JJ would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to open in the City of Berkeley “as a right” with the status of a retail sales outlet in locations zoned for that purpose, rather than having to apply for a use permit under the current process . Medical marijuana advocates will say that the current ordinance allows the city--intentionally or unintentionally--to freeze the number of dispensaries in the city, eliminating a legal and medically necessary treatment for some residents. Opponents will say that eliminating the need for a use permit--which can only be granted after a public hearing--also eliminates any say residents might have in keeping medical marijuana dispensaries out of their particular neighborhood. Again, Berkeley voters will have to decide which right is the more important.

The ballot argument in favor of Measure JJ was signed, in part, by Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Max Anderson.

No argument against Measure JJ was submitted.


News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Berkeley Daily Planet
Author: J. Douglas Allen-Taylo
Copyright: 2008 The Berkeley Daily Planet
Contact: Local News and Opinion from The Berkeley Daily Planet - Thursday October 16, 2008
Website: Voters Guide to Berkeley Measures HH and JJ. Category: News Updates from The Berkeley Daily Planet - Thursday October 16, 2008

 

[James Anthony]

A response to The Daily Planet's 10/21/08 Voters Guide re: Measure JJ
Submitted to the Planet on 10/24/06

Measure JJ will ensure that medical cannabis continues to be safely available to Berkeley's patients and that the needs and rights of neighbors are respected.

We appreciate that the Daily Planet recognizes that every initiative presents policy issues to be weighed and balanced by the voters. We write to clarify those issues where the Planet's 10/21/08 Voter Guide was somewhat misleading on JJ.

The measure's history is unusual and may have led to the Planet's misunderstanding: in 2004 it was subjected to an unconstitutional election using now-decertified electronic voting machines. When the Superior Court ordered the measure back on the ballot for 2008, the city council had already made two significant changes to the medical cannabis ordinance. Both are unaffected by JJ:

1) JJ does not change the city council's current limit of no more than three collective dispensaries in the city. So it is incorrect to say that JJ supporters somehow contest the city's "freeze" on the number of dispensaries. The number of dispensaries in Berkeley is unaffected by JJ–except to the extent that it helps to maintain the current number (three) rather than allowing them to close for lack of zoning procedure.

2) JJ does not change the city council's proximity limit banning dispensaries from locating within 1000 feet of schools or of each other.
These two changes are a huge shift in the context of JJ in 2008. With the cap of three and the proximity limits in place, JJ merely recognizes clinics as an accepted use, and provides procedures and standards for them.

JJ's primary zoning effect is to help dispensaries relocate when they must.

Today, two of Berkeley's three dispensaries are on the verge of closing, slowly crushed between the need to relocate and the lack of clear directives for city staff to facilitate such a move.

If two-thirds of our dispensaries close, it will drive thousands of patients to the dangers of the illicit market, deprive our city and state of significant tax revenue, and add dozens of dispensary service workers to the rolls of the unemployed and uninsured.

Our existing dispensaries can relocate under JJ, but only if they meet the safety and operating standards of the Peer Review Committee, are at least 1,000 feet from schools, and are not located in residential zones.
Berkeley's existing dispensaries are grandfathered and entirely self-regulated. JJ will create a responsible system of regulation for the first time, in which city staff, clinic neighbors, and police will have an appropriate role. Such regulation is already well-developed in neighboring Oakland and San Francisco.

JJ is endorsed by the Alameda County Democratic Party, Berkeley's County Supervisor Keith Carson, the United Democratic Campaign of Berkeley, Alameda and Emeryville, the Oakland Tribune, and the Bay Guardian, among many others. The ballot argument in favor of JJ was signed in its entirety by two city council members, a Berkeley family practice doctor, a Cal Ph.D. social work researcher, and a harm reduction expert. Please see www.YesOnJJ.com for more information.

Measure JJ is well within Berkeley's long tradition of putting progressive values into actual practice. Please support medical marijuana patients and clinics in Berkeley--vote Yes on Measure JJ.

Roger LaChance
Citizens for Sensible Medical Cannabis Regulation--Yes on JJ