POT CLINICS BANNED

Claremont Council Flip-Flops on Issue

CLAREMONT - An ordinance banning medical-marijuana dispensaries from
operating in the city was passed by the City Council this week.

The law does not limit the ability of medical-marijuana users to
cultivate and use the drug in the city.

Nor does it disallow medical-marijuana users from setting up
"collectives" to share and distribute the drug if such an operation
conforms with state law, said City Attorney Sonia Carvalho.

Tuesday's council vote in support of the measure was 4-1, with Mayor
Ellen Taylor opposed.

Several medical-marijuana activists condemned the City Council for
what they said was a flip-flop on the dispensary issue.

The council had previously voted in support of allowing one heavily
regulated dispensary.

"This is great legislation if you really, really want to condemn the
sick people of your city to a life of misery," said Darrell Kruse, a
Chino resident who in 2006 opened a dispensary in Claremont without
city permission.

Kruse's dispensary was shut down by court order last year, but his act
prompted the city to examine closely whether it wanted to allow such
an establishment.