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It has been nearly 45 days since the Temecula city council voted to enact an emergency zoning moratorium that prohibits the opening of medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits. Now, the city wants to extend the moratorium for another 10 months to give officials time to examine state and federal laws as to shape a solid zoning ordinance.
The emergency interim zoning moratorium landed on the council's agenda after Compassionate Caregivers, a medical marijuana dispensary company based in various California locations, contacted the city about its zoning ordinances.
The city council responded before Compassionate Caregivers could take the next step and enacted the first 45-day moratorium at its Sept. 14 meeting. The council meets to discuss extending the moratorium at 7 p.m., Oct. 26, at City Hall, 43200 Business Park Dr.
Considered a gateway drug to harsher drugs such as heroin or hallucinogens, marijuana has its roots planted in history for its medicinal uses for a variety of physical maladies. But council members disagree on the benefits of marijuana given the availability of the drug Marinol, derived from the actual drug.
Councilman Jeff Stone, who is also a pharmacist, said marijuana is beneficial for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and relieves eye pressure for those suffering from Glaucoma. "The appropriate thing to do is prescribe Marinol," he said.
Stone added that he worries a medical marijuana dispensary would attract recreational users and expose the area's youth to the drug.
"It's my belief that many strong proponents of these dispensaries want to have legal distribution for non-medical and recreational purposes," he said. "It just seems to be a pervasive way for people to acquire the drug without any accountability to law enforcement."
Since the passage of legislation in November 1996, medical marijuana dispensaries have sprouted up around the Golden State, mostly in Northern California. New legislation was enacted in January to clarify the scope of the law so as to stop the arrest of persons using it for medicinal uses, such as the quantity allowed for each patient.
Under a doctor's approval, seriously ill patients can cultivate up to 12 immature plants or six mature plants and may possess no more than eight ounces of dried marijuana.
According to Lanny Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project and American Harm Reduction Association, the closest dispensaries are in the Los Angeles area.
At the Sept. 14 council meeting, Swerdlow, a Palm Springs resident, requested that a citizens' task force be formed to "help the city of Temecula foster the ability of medical marijuana patients to obtain their medicine in ways specifically sanctioned by state law." So far, no such group has been formed by the city.
"The state of California has fallen down," he said during a recent interview.
Swerdlow said he is not opposed to dispensaries but said the drug is too expensive, with patients paying up to $200 to $400 per ounce. He supports the formation of collective or co-ops funded and cultivated by a group of medical marijuana patients. "Like any drugstore, they make a lot of money," he said. "I am an advocate of medical marijuana, not dispensaries."
A representative from Compassionate Caregivers declined to comment.
Temecula is not the only city enacting zoning moratoriums, said Kris Hermes, legal coordinator for Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a grassroots coalition based out of Berkeley, Calif. Hermes explained that ASA supports a patient's right to obtain medicinal marijuana and worries that the proliferation of zoning moratoriums will force people to seek the drug through illegal avenues.
"We're definitely in favor of the immediate opening of places that would improve access for patients," he said. "Otherwise, you have a situation where people have to procure it by illegal means."
Babette Herrmann
https://www.thevalleynewsnetwork.com/?template=00200&si=1057
The emergency interim zoning moratorium landed on the council's agenda after Compassionate Caregivers, a medical marijuana dispensary company based in various California locations, contacted the city about its zoning ordinances.
The city council responded before Compassionate Caregivers could take the next step and enacted the first 45-day moratorium at its Sept. 14 meeting. The council meets to discuss extending the moratorium at 7 p.m., Oct. 26, at City Hall, 43200 Business Park Dr.
Considered a gateway drug to harsher drugs such as heroin or hallucinogens, marijuana has its roots planted in history for its medicinal uses for a variety of physical maladies. But council members disagree on the benefits of marijuana given the availability of the drug Marinol, derived from the actual drug.
Councilman Jeff Stone, who is also a pharmacist, said marijuana is beneficial for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and relieves eye pressure for those suffering from Glaucoma. "The appropriate thing to do is prescribe Marinol," he said.
Stone added that he worries a medical marijuana dispensary would attract recreational users and expose the area's youth to the drug.
"It's my belief that many strong proponents of these dispensaries want to have legal distribution for non-medical and recreational purposes," he said. "It just seems to be a pervasive way for people to acquire the drug without any accountability to law enforcement."
Since the passage of legislation in November 1996, medical marijuana dispensaries have sprouted up around the Golden State, mostly in Northern California. New legislation was enacted in January to clarify the scope of the law so as to stop the arrest of persons using it for medicinal uses, such as the quantity allowed for each patient.
Under a doctor's approval, seriously ill patients can cultivate up to 12 immature plants or six mature plants and may possess no more than eight ounces of dried marijuana.
According to Lanny Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project and American Harm Reduction Association, the closest dispensaries are in the Los Angeles area.
At the Sept. 14 council meeting, Swerdlow, a Palm Springs resident, requested that a citizens' task force be formed to "help the city of Temecula foster the ability of medical marijuana patients to obtain their medicine in ways specifically sanctioned by state law." So far, no such group has been formed by the city.
"The state of California has fallen down," he said during a recent interview.
Swerdlow said he is not opposed to dispensaries but said the drug is too expensive, with patients paying up to $200 to $400 per ounce. He supports the formation of collective or co-ops funded and cultivated by a group of medical marijuana patients. "Like any drugstore, they make a lot of money," he said. "I am an advocate of medical marijuana, not dispensaries."
A representative from Compassionate Caregivers declined to comment.
Temecula is not the only city enacting zoning moratoriums, said Kris Hermes, legal coordinator for Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a grassroots coalition based out of Berkeley, Calif. Hermes explained that ASA supports a patient's right to obtain medicinal marijuana and worries that the proliferation of zoning moratoriums will force people to seek the drug through illegal avenues.
"We're definitely in favor of the immediate opening of places that would improve access for patients," he said. "Otherwise, you have a situation where people have to procure it by illegal means."
Babette Herrmann
https://www.thevalleynewsnetwork.com/?template=00200&si=1057
