Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
The Vista City Council is thinking of letting a small number of medical marijuana dispensaries open and operate legally – an about-face from its current practice of aggressively chasing pot shops out of the city.
On Tuesday, the council will consider a plan that would allow for two dispensaries, with heavy regulations. Council members will also talk about allowing marijuana to be delivered to patients at their homes.
Any change would mark a reversal for Vista, which since 2013 has spent more than $1 million to shut down more than three dozen medical pot shops in the city. The city has also won criminal convictions against a few pot shop operators and the landlords who rent them space.
The potential change in policy comes as public attitudes about marijuana have shifted toward acceptance, and the city faces a citizens initiative calling for Vista to allow at least 10 shops.
Concerns that the citizens measure is too lenient and allows for too many shops prompted Councilman Joe Green to push the city to craft its own ordinance. The councilman noted that 57 percent of Vista voters last fall backed statewide legalization of recreational marijuana.
"The citizens have spoken loud and clear, and as a city we should be doing the will of the citizens," Green said last week. "I feel like medical marijuana has been legal in California for 20 years and we have made no progress toward allowing it legally in our city."
Some council members said they would be willing to consider allowing some shops, but they fear the citizens initiative would create a system that would give them little control over the legal dispensaries and little muscle to shut down illegal operations.
Although medical marijuana is legal in the state, cities are allowed to bar dispensaries, which Vista and all other North County cities have opted to do.
But more than its neighbors, Vista has hammered dispensaries. Nearly four years ago, Vista hired a deputy city attorney whose primary focus has been to target marijuana businesses in the city, and to sometimes bring criminal charges – not for marijuana sales, but for misdemeanor violations of city laws.
Despite the raids and criminal cases, some of the shops reopen and new ones come to town. As of last week, city officials were aware of eight dispensaries operating within city limits.
"Our view is that we have been attacked by dispensaries, that we are under siege by dispensaries," Vista City Attorney Darold Pieper said. "All of these people know they are running illegal operations. There is nothing heavy-handed about expecting them to comply with the law until such time as they become legal in the city."
And, he said, even if some dispensaries become legal, people will still open unlicensed shops. "They will not disappear," he said.
Critics say the raids are over the top. Earlier this year, a few dozen patients took their complaints to the City Council. Many said they or family members are sick and they rely on the dispensaries.
"I am so tired of trying to get my medicine and having to look over my shoulder," Vista resident and medical marijuana user Cassie Box, 52, told the council.
The dispensaries have taken center stage in Vista in the wake of an effort – launched by people with ties to the marijuana industry – to force a ballot measure that would legalize dispensaries in Vista, one for every 10,000 residents. The signature-gathering effort is in the works. (A similar effort a few months ago gathered 7,000 signatures, but the city rejected the petition for a technical flaw.)
Some financial backing for the initiative comes from operators who had their Vista shops raided, and then landed in criminal court.
Attorney Joshua Hamlin, the spokesman for the group behind the initiative push, said that if Vista passes an ordinance allowing for just two dispensaries, the efforts to get the citizens initiative onto the ballot might not stop.
"Having two dispensaries is really problematic for the patients of Vista," he said. "If you only have two dispensaries in town, that leads to under-competition, and the price of medicine is going to go up."
Critics of the citizens initiative say it allows for too many dispensaries and too few regulations on where they can go.
Opponents of dispensaries in general say they bring crime, and that greater access to marijuana creates greater usage. They also note that marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: North County News - San Diego Union Tribune
Author: Teri Figueroa
Contact: Contact the Union-Tribune - The San Diego Union-Tribune
Photo Credit: Charlie Neuman
Website: San Diego News, California & National News - San Diego Union Tribune
On Tuesday, the council will consider a plan that would allow for two dispensaries, with heavy regulations. Council members will also talk about allowing marijuana to be delivered to patients at their homes.
Any change would mark a reversal for Vista, which since 2013 has spent more than $1 million to shut down more than three dozen medical pot shops in the city. The city has also won criminal convictions against a few pot shop operators and the landlords who rent them space.
The potential change in policy comes as public attitudes about marijuana have shifted toward acceptance, and the city faces a citizens initiative calling for Vista to allow at least 10 shops.
Concerns that the citizens measure is too lenient and allows for too many shops prompted Councilman Joe Green to push the city to craft its own ordinance. The councilman noted that 57 percent of Vista voters last fall backed statewide legalization of recreational marijuana.
"The citizens have spoken loud and clear, and as a city we should be doing the will of the citizens," Green said last week. "I feel like medical marijuana has been legal in California for 20 years and we have made no progress toward allowing it legally in our city."
Some council members said they would be willing to consider allowing some shops, but they fear the citizens initiative would create a system that would give them little control over the legal dispensaries and little muscle to shut down illegal operations.
Although medical marijuana is legal in the state, cities are allowed to bar dispensaries, which Vista and all other North County cities have opted to do.
But more than its neighbors, Vista has hammered dispensaries. Nearly four years ago, Vista hired a deputy city attorney whose primary focus has been to target marijuana businesses in the city, and to sometimes bring criminal charges – not for marijuana sales, but for misdemeanor violations of city laws.
Despite the raids and criminal cases, some of the shops reopen and new ones come to town. As of last week, city officials were aware of eight dispensaries operating within city limits.
"Our view is that we have been attacked by dispensaries, that we are under siege by dispensaries," Vista City Attorney Darold Pieper said. "All of these people know they are running illegal operations. There is nothing heavy-handed about expecting them to comply with the law until such time as they become legal in the city."
And, he said, even if some dispensaries become legal, people will still open unlicensed shops. "They will not disappear," he said.
Critics say the raids are over the top. Earlier this year, a few dozen patients took their complaints to the City Council. Many said they or family members are sick and they rely on the dispensaries.
"I am so tired of trying to get my medicine and having to look over my shoulder," Vista resident and medical marijuana user Cassie Box, 52, told the council.
The dispensaries have taken center stage in Vista in the wake of an effort – launched by people with ties to the marijuana industry – to force a ballot measure that would legalize dispensaries in Vista, one for every 10,000 residents. The signature-gathering effort is in the works. (A similar effort a few months ago gathered 7,000 signatures, but the city rejected the petition for a technical flaw.)
Some financial backing for the initiative comes from operators who had their Vista shops raided, and then landed in criminal court.
Attorney Joshua Hamlin, the spokesman for the group behind the initiative push, said that if Vista passes an ordinance allowing for just two dispensaries, the efforts to get the citizens initiative onto the ballot might not stop.
"Having two dispensaries is really problematic for the patients of Vista," he said. "If you only have two dispensaries in town, that leads to under-competition, and the price of medicine is going to go up."
Critics of the citizens initiative say it allows for too many dispensaries and too few regulations on where they can go.
Opponents of dispensaries in general say they bring crime, and that greater access to marijuana creates greater usage. They also note that marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: North County News - San Diego Union Tribune
Author: Teri Figueroa
Contact: Contact the Union-Tribune - The San Diego Union-Tribune
Photo Credit: Charlie Neuman
Website: San Diego News, California & National News - San Diego Union Tribune
