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Santa Rosa would license medical marijuana dispensaries and control how they operate under a proposed ordinance that could set a standard along the pot-friendly North Coast.
The law, scheduled for review by the City Council Tuesday [Sept 27], would limit how close dispensaries can be to schools and how many people they may serve. And it would create an application process that charges fees and requires employees to undergo criminal-background checks. California voters legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996, opening the way for a burgeoning enterprise that has gone mostly unregulated.
"It's been proven to be a substance that helps sick people," said Mayor Jane Bender, who helped draft the ordinance with a panel of police officers, planning officials and city residents. "I hate to see someone have to resort to becoming a criminal to get it."Under the ordinance, Santa Rosa could have only two pot clubs serving no more than 500 people each. Advocates estimate there are at least 3,000 medical pot users in the city. "It allows dispensaries and that's the most important thing," said Doc Knapp, spokesman for the Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana. "But we're concerned it won't meet the current needs, let alone the future needs."
Bender said the city would reconsider the limit after six months.
"If we're going to approve this and make it work, we're going to go slowly," she said. Santa Rosa began drafting its ordinance earlier this year when it discovered it had three medical pot dispensaries, including one across the street from City Hall. Neighbors complained pot-club operators were selling to people who did not appear to be sick and allowed unruly customers to smoke outside the dispensaries and resell pot illegally.
In April the city enacted a 45-day ban, laid down regulations for the existing clubs and formed a panel to write a permanent ordinance. Since then, one of the clubs was robbed at gunpoint and closed. And a new pot club opened outside the city limits on Santa Rosa Avenue. State law allows cultivation of marijuana for personal medical use, but it remains illegal under federal law that was upheld in June by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A city license would not protect dispensaries from federal raids. However, a coalition of local police chiefs and Sonoma County District Attorney Stephen Passalaqua have said they will not prosecute those who possess pot for medical use. The issue of how to regulate distribution of medical marijuana is being addressed across the Bay Area, where people who can't grow their own have turned to cooperative dispensaries.
Oakland was among the first cities statewide to adopt regulations, limiting the number of clubs citywide to four. San Francisco, which has at least 40 dispensaries, is working on writing city laws. Eight Sonoma County cities and Ukiah in Mendocino County have enacted temporary bans while they write laws governing pot clubs. Sonoma County supervisors in May imposed a ban for the unincorporated area.
Santa Rosa's ordinance would require that dispensaries have security cameras and prohibit smoking on their property. They would not be permitted within 500 feet of youth-oriented facilities, including schools and parks. And a fee yet to be determined would be collected in the application process. If approved, Santa Rosa's ordinance would close at least one of the existing clubs because of its proximity to Juilliard Park, a city planner said.
Reached Saturday, an employee at Resource Green Caregivers and Patients Group, on Sonoma Avenue, said he was not authorized to comment and that owner Ken Doerpinghaus was unavailable.
Santa Rosa's ordinance is being watched closely by other cities considering their own laws. Sebastopol Mayor Larry Robinson said several pot clubs have inquired about opening in his city. It will be important to get a law like Santa Rosa's on the books as soon as possible, he said.
"We're going to be looking at it very closely," Robinson said. "I doubt if we would allow more than one, but I'm not sure."
Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl - 420Times.com
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Press Democrat
Contact: letters@pressdemo.com
Website: Home, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Bay Area Newspaper, CA news
Author: Paul Payne
The law, scheduled for review by the City Council Tuesday [Sept 27], would limit how close dispensaries can be to schools and how many people they may serve. And it would create an application process that charges fees and requires employees to undergo criminal-background checks. California voters legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996, opening the way for a burgeoning enterprise that has gone mostly unregulated.
"It's been proven to be a substance that helps sick people," said Mayor Jane Bender, who helped draft the ordinance with a panel of police officers, planning officials and city residents. "I hate to see someone have to resort to becoming a criminal to get it."Under the ordinance, Santa Rosa could have only two pot clubs serving no more than 500 people each. Advocates estimate there are at least 3,000 medical pot users in the city. "It allows dispensaries and that's the most important thing," said Doc Knapp, spokesman for the Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana. "But we're concerned it won't meet the current needs, let alone the future needs."
Bender said the city would reconsider the limit after six months.
"If we're going to approve this and make it work, we're going to go slowly," she said. Santa Rosa began drafting its ordinance earlier this year when it discovered it had three medical pot dispensaries, including one across the street from City Hall. Neighbors complained pot-club operators were selling to people who did not appear to be sick and allowed unruly customers to smoke outside the dispensaries and resell pot illegally.
In April the city enacted a 45-day ban, laid down regulations for the existing clubs and formed a panel to write a permanent ordinance. Since then, one of the clubs was robbed at gunpoint and closed. And a new pot club opened outside the city limits on Santa Rosa Avenue. State law allows cultivation of marijuana for personal medical use, but it remains illegal under federal law that was upheld in June by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A city license would not protect dispensaries from federal raids. However, a coalition of local police chiefs and Sonoma County District Attorney Stephen Passalaqua have said they will not prosecute those who possess pot for medical use. The issue of how to regulate distribution of medical marijuana is being addressed across the Bay Area, where people who can't grow their own have turned to cooperative dispensaries.
Oakland was among the first cities statewide to adopt regulations, limiting the number of clubs citywide to four. San Francisco, which has at least 40 dispensaries, is working on writing city laws. Eight Sonoma County cities and Ukiah in Mendocino County have enacted temporary bans while they write laws governing pot clubs. Sonoma County supervisors in May imposed a ban for the unincorporated area.
Santa Rosa's ordinance would require that dispensaries have security cameras and prohibit smoking on their property. They would not be permitted within 500 feet of youth-oriented facilities, including schools and parks. And a fee yet to be determined would be collected in the application process. If approved, Santa Rosa's ordinance would close at least one of the existing clubs because of its proximity to Juilliard Park, a city planner said.
Reached Saturday, an employee at Resource Green Caregivers and Patients Group, on Sonoma Avenue, said he was not authorized to comment and that owner Ken Doerpinghaus was unavailable.
Santa Rosa's ordinance is being watched closely by other cities considering their own laws. Sebastopol Mayor Larry Robinson said several pot clubs have inquired about opening in his city. It will be important to get a law like Santa Rosa's on the books as soon as possible, he said.
"We're going to be looking at it very closely," Robinson said. "I doubt if we would allow more than one, but I'm not sure."
Newshawk: SirBlazinBowl - 420Times.com
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Press Democrat
Contact: letters@pressdemo.com
Website: Home, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Bay Area Newspaper, CA news
Author: Paul Payne
