Long Beach OKs Medical Pot Ordinance

[Warbux]

CA - Medical marijuana collectives will have to grow their weed within the city limits and will face greater school buffer zones under an ordinance approved Tuesday.

After months of working and reworking the law, the City Council voted 5-4 to approve the new restrictions on top of other requirements, such as the registration of collectives and taking security measures. The vote was a first reading and the ordinance will return for a final vote likely next week.

Council members Robert Garcia, Tonia Reyes Uranga, Rae Gabelich and Val Lerch voted against the ordinance.

City Attorney Bob Shannon had presented the council with three different options on how to regulate the collectives in response to a presentation by the District Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Department last month.

Alternatives that weren't approved by the council included restricting the number of collectives allowed in each council district and requiring cultivation within the county instead of just Long Beach.

The DA had said that the ordinance wouldn't comply with state law if it didn't include local cultivation requirements and a rule that only collective members could grow marijuana, both of which were added to the law.

Lerch and Gabelich in particular disputed this legal interpretation, and Lerch chastised Shannon for trying to redo the legislation.

"I am not sure why we're here with a whole new version of the medical marijuana ordinance," Lerch

said. "We have a version on the floor that was approved by the majority of the council."

The council had approved the creation of an ordinance that didn't restrict where marijuana could be grown in February one week before hearing the DA's presentation and postponing another vote.

Shannon said the ordinance was "incomplete" as previously approved and that he wouldn't draft the law if it didn't pass muster.

Gabelich suggested requiring that marijuana be grown within the state, rather than the county or city.

"You start with the least restrictive, and you pull it in as necessary," she said.

However, Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal and Mayor Bob Foster said that was backward.

"Start narrow, start within our own city. ... And then enlarge it as the need arises," Lowenthal said.

Foster said that it would be much harder to make the law more restrictive after collectives had already spent money establishing themselves.

The council also voted to extend the areas around schools in which collectives aren't allowed to operate - the 1,500-foot buffer for high schools remained, while the 500-foot buffer for other schools was extended to 1,000 feet.

Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske had suggested the change, noting that Long Beach Unified School District had requested the 1,000-foot buffer to comply with its drug-free school zones.

Notably absent at the meeting was a long line of medical marijuana advocates speaking on the matter.

Foster didn't allow public comment, as the meeting was a continuation from February and the public has made its opinions known at multiple meetings.

However, Rick Brizendine, an attorney representing Belmont Shore Natural Care medical marijuana collective, said after the vote that this was a violation of the Brown Act.

"The public has never had an opportunity to comment on the most recently raised issue of in-city cultivation," Brizendine said. "It was brought up at the last meeting, but the public was not allowed to comment on that either."

At that meeting, Foster only allowed comments about the motion to continue the matter to a later date.

Shannon said there was no Brown Act violation.

"The Brown Act only requires that you testify once with regard to a particular issue," Shannon said. "Everybody has had repeated chances to testify."

Brizendine said that because of this alleged violation and other aspects of the law, his client is "absolutely" considering taking legal action.





News Hawk: Warbux http://420magazine.com/
Source: Contra Costa Times
Author: Paul Eakins
Contact: paul.eakins@presstelegram.com
Copyright: Press Telegraph
Website: Long Beach OKs medical pot ordinance - ContraCostaTimes.com