Jacob Bell
New Member
GARDEN GROVE — Amid a renewed federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries in California, Garden Grove is pressing on with registration and zoning processes to regulate the 60-plus clinics and collectives that have already set up shop in the city.
On Friday, federal prosecutors announced that they have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning some stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state's 15-year-old medical marijuana law. The four U.S. attorneys representing California said their offices are targeting large-scale for-profit marijuana sellers who they say have hijacked the state's medical marijuana laws to get rich illegally.
Garden Grove is one of many Orange County cities that have been grappling with the dichotomy between state and federal law when it comes to medical marijuana. California voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, which legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes through community collectives. It is still illegal to possess, cultivate or use marijuana for recreational use. Possession or use of any type of marijuana — medical or otherwise — is illegal under federal law.
About three years ago, the Garden Grove City Council passed an ordinance banning all medical marijuana dispensaries. However, that did not stop these facilities from sprouting almost everywhere in the city — in strip malls, near homes, schools and even childcare centers.
In June, the council passed an emergency ordinance requiring all medical marijuana dispensaries in Garden Grove to register. The ordinance offers an opportunity for dispensaries that opened in the city on or before June 30 to submit a registration application with a $200 fee. The deadline to register was Sept. 23. Clinics that opened after June 30 will not be eligible to participate.
City Manager Matt Fertal said Friday that he does not yet know if the federal crackdown will affect Garden Grove.
"We still plan to continue with the registration and zoning process," he said.
This is new ground for Garden Grove, which is only the second city in Orange County and one of a handful in California that have taken the "registration and zoning" route as opposed to a ban or moratorium, said Susan Emery, the city's Community Development director. Once the city sifts through the applications, the Planning Commission and City Council will consider a zoning ordinance to determine where in the city these dispensaries will be located, Emery said.
"Our goal is to ensure that they are not near sensitive uses such as schools, parks or childcare centers," she said.
The city plans to relocate the existing dispensaries and collectives to industrial areas where they can be away from homes, schools and parks and still be accessible to patients, Emery said.
"We have been talking not only to dispensary owners, but also patients to see how best we can do this," she said.
Garden Grove considered a "lottery system," such as the one Los Angeles and Long Beach used where the lottery winners would be issued permits, according to Emery. The city decided against such a system because it is not fair to the businesses that invested in Garden Grove before June 30, she said.
Registration and zoning seem to be the only way at this point to regulate dispensaries without opening the city to costly litigation, Emery said.
"That said, there are no guarantees that we won't go to court because these ordinances will have to be enforced as well," she said.
Marijuana-related litigation is nothing new for Garden Grove. The city spent about $219,000 during a four-year court battle over 8 grams of marijuana confiscated from Felix Kha. The court ruled in Kha's favor and ordered Garden Grove police to return the marijuana, which Kha claimed was for medical purposes. The case culminated in June 2009 after the city paid $139,000 in attorney's fees to medical marijuana advocates as part of a settlement agreement.
Other Orange County cities that are still embroiled in legal battles with dispensaries include Anaheim, Brea, Dana Point and Lake Forest.
Robert Thill, whose insurance business is about 10 feet from a medical marijuana collective on Garden Grove Boulevard, says he is sick and tired of his neighbor. Thill said he even filed a lawsuit against the collective, but lost.
"The court ruled that I didn't have the right to shut them down as a citizen," he said. "Now, we have to hope that whatever the city does works."
Thill said the existence of the dispensary has not really hurt his business. But he said he wonders why it can't be dispensed at a doctor's office or at a CVS.
"It would be better if they weren't there," he said. "I don't want to see people smoking dope across the street. Our property values are way down. This particular dispensary is 10 feet from my office, within 52 feet of a daycare and backs up to apartment homes. It's just not right."
Keyth Morton, director of the PinkWeed dispensary on Harbor Boulevard, says he applauds the city's efforts to work toward regulating dispensaries and collectives rather than shutting them down. Morton has filed an application to register with the city.
"But I'm still concerned if it is going to be a fair process," he said. "A lot of people have come in to Garden Grove after June 30 because they heard the ban has been lifted here. How will the city determine who was here first and who wasn't?"
Emery says the ban that the council passed in 2008 is still in effect. The ban is meant to prevent new dispensaries from coming in to the city, she said.
Morton says he also worried that pushing all dispensaries to an industrial zone will leave many of them clustered in one area.
"There's no way you are going to go to a Starbucks and find five coffee shops on the same street," he said. "But if that happens to the dispensaries, then, it is going to have adverse effects on people in my collective."
PinkWeed is organized as a nonprofit because it gives a portion of its income to breast cancer research, Morton said. Many of its 2,500 members are also breast cancer patients, he said. His nonprofit is a collective as opposed to a dispensary. Morton explains that a dispensary is a location where medical marijuana is dispensed. A collective is a location where members grow their own marijuana.
At PinkWeed, the marijuana is grown at a different location for members because of space constraints and out of respect for neighboring businesses, Morton said.
"We also teach members how to grow the plants in their own homes," he said.
Howie, A., a PinkWeed patient and Garden Grove resident who did not want to give out his last name, said he smokes marijuana to ease chronic back pain after he was involved in a car accident.
"I'd rather use medical marijuana than prescription pain pills, which have a lot of side effects," he said. "I'm glad to hear Garden Grove taking this progressive approach. It makes sure I have access to my meds and I don't have to drive away from the city to get them."
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: ocregister.com
Author: Deepa Bharath
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Orange County Register Communications
Website: Garden Grove presses on with regulation of pot clinics
On Friday, federal prosecutors announced that they have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning some stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state's 15-year-old medical marijuana law. The four U.S. attorneys representing California said their offices are targeting large-scale for-profit marijuana sellers who they say have hijacked the state's medical marijuana laws to get rich illegally.
Garden Grove is one of many Orange County cities that have been grappling with the dichotomy between state and federal law when it comes to medical marijuana. California voters in 1996 passed Proposition 215, which legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes through community collectives. It is still illegal to possess, cultivate or use marijuana for recreational use. Possession or use of any type of marijuana — medical or otherwise — is illegal under federal law.
About three years ago, the Garden Grove City Council passed an ordinance banning all medical marijuana dispensaries. However, that did not stop these facilities from sprouting almost everywhere in the city — in strip malls, near homes, schools and even childcare centers.
In June, the council passed an emergency ordinance requiring all medical marijuana dispensaries in Garden Grove to register. The ordinance offers an opportunity for dispensaries that opened in the city on or before June 30 to submit a registration application with a $200 fee. The deadline to register was Sept. 23. Clinics that opened after June 30 will not be eligible to participate.
City Manager Matt Fertal said Friday that he does not yet know if the federal crackdown will affect Garden Grove.
"We still plan to continue with the registration and zoning process," he said.
This is new ground for Garden Grove, which is only the second city in Orange County and one of a handful in California that have taken the "registration and zoning" route as opposed to a ban or moratorium, said Susan Emery, the city's Community Development director. Once the city sifts through the applications, the Planning Commission and City Council will consider a zoning ordinance to determine where in the city these dispensaries will be located, Emery said.
"Our goal is to ensure that they are not near sensitive uses such as schools, parks or childcare centers," she said.
The city plans to relocate the existing dispensaries and collectives to industrial areas where they can be away from homes, schools and parks and still be accessible to patients, Emery said.
"We have been talking not only to dispensary owners, but also patients to see how best we can do this," she said.
Garden Grove considered a "lottery system," such as the one Los Angeles and Long Beach used where the lottery winners would be issued permits, according to Emery. The city decided against such a system because it is not fair to the businesses that invested in Garden Grove before June 30, she said.
Registration and zoning seem to be the only way at this point to regulate dispensaries without opening the city to costly litigation, Emery said.
"That said, there are no guarantees that we won't go to court because these ordinances will have to be enforced as well," she said.
Marijuana-related litigation is nothing new for Garden Grove. The city spent about $219,000 during a four-year court battle over 8 grams of marijuana confiscated from Felix Kha. The court ruled in Kha's favor and ordered Garden Grove police to return the marijuana, which Kha claimed was for medical purposes. The case culminated in June 2009 after the city paid $139,000 in attorney's fees to medical marijuana advocates as part of a settlement agreement.
Other Orange County cities that are still embroiled in legal battles with dispensaries include Anaheim, Brea, Dana Point and Lake Forest.
Robert Thill, whose insurance business is about 10 feet from a medical marijuana collective on Garden Grove Boulevard, says he is sick and tired of his neighbor. Thill said he even filed a lawsuit against the collective, but lost.
"The court ruled that I didn't have the right to shut them down as a citizen," he said. "Now, we have to hope that whatever the city does works."
Thill said the existence of the dispensary has not really hurt his business. But he said he wonders why it can't be dispensed at a doctor's office or at a CVS.
"It would be better if they weren't there," he said. "I don't want to see people smoking dope across the street. Our property values are way down. This particular dispensary is 10 feet from my office, within 52 feet of a daycare and backs up to apartment homes. It's just not right."
Keyth Morton, director of the PinkWeed dispensary on Harbor Boulevard, says he applauds the city's efforts to work toward regulating dispensaries and collectives rather than shutting them down. Morton has filed an application to register with the city.
"But I'm still concerned if it is going to be a fair process," he said. "A lot of people have come in to Garden Grove after June 30 because they heard the ban has been lifted here. How will the city determine who was here first and who wasn't?"
Emery says the ban that the council passed in 2008 is still in effect. The ban is meant to prevent new dispensaries from coming in to the city, she said.
Morton says he also worried that pushing all dispensaries to an industrial zone will leave many of them clustered in one area.
"There's no way you are going to go to a Starbucks and find five coffee shops on the same street," he said. "But if that happens to the dispensaries, then, it is going to have adverse effects on people in my collective."
PinkWeed is organized as a nonprofit because it gives a portion of its income to breast cancer research, Morton said. Many of its 2,500 members are also breast cancer patients, he said. His nonprofit is a collective as opposed to a dispensary. Morton explains that a dispensary is a location where medical marijuana is dispensed. A collective is a location where members grow their own marijuana.
At PinkWeed, the marijuana is grown at a different location for members because of space constraints and out of respect for neighboring businesses, Morton said.
"We also teach members how to grow the plants in their own homes," he said.
Howie, A., a PinkWeed patient and Garden Grove resident who did not want to give out his last name, said he smokes marijuana to ease chronic back pain after he was involved in a car accident.
"I'd rather use medical marijuana than prescription pain pills, which have a lot of side effects," he said. "I'm glad to hear Garden Grove taking this progressive approach. It makes sure I have access to my meds and I don't have to drive away from the city to get them."
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: ocregister.com
Author: Deepa Bharath
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Orange County Register Communications
Website: Garden Grove presses on with regulation of pot clinics
