Arcata Waits On Dispensary Codes In Light Of AG Guidelines

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The Arcata Planning Commission decided to delay the approval of Arcata's dispensary guidelines in order to factor in recently released state guidelines on medical marijuana.

Commissioner Paul Hagen said more time is needed to evaluate the Office of the Attorney General's guidelines since there are several definitions that are lacking from Arcata's current draft code.

”These guidelines came out on Monday, we met on Tuesday and they require some thought,” Hagen said. “You really have to read these things over carefully and think about what the AG is trying to do.”

The Planning Commission has been deliberating on the language of the dispensary guidelines for months. The guidelines aim to impose restrictions on how dispensaries operate in hopes of curbing 215 card abuse.

Although the commission was planning on approving its guidelines Tuesday, the release of the AG's guidelines delayed the approval. The commission will be meeting again on Sept. 23.

While not law, the AG's guidelines are given great weight in court, so it is important to be in line with them, Hagen said.

”The more of the AG's guidelines that we have in the land use codes, as appropriate, the more our code will withstand legal attack,” he said.

The AG and the proposed Arcata guidelines have only two terms in common, “primary caregiver” and “qualified patient,” but both the definitions are not the same.

Other terms, such as medical marijuana dispensary and medical marijuana, Arcata defines, but the AG does not.

Since the AG does not define dispensaries, Hagen said that the language of Arcata's code may be confusing.

There are two important terms the AG defines that Arcata does not, “physician's recommendation,” and “recommending physician,” Hagen said. He added that the commission needs to take the time to go over the definitions and decide what to include in its own codes.

To access Arcata's guidelines, go to City of Arcata - Home.


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Source: Times-Standard
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