PLANNING COMMISSION'S CALL ON MED POT SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBVIOUS

Call it what you may but last week's Planning Commission meeting was
about the legalization of marijuana and specifically, selling it in
Huntington Beach retail pot shops.

Officially, the issue was a zoning amendment that would delete all
references to medical marijuana distribution in the city. Our current
zoning laws now permit such a use, and City Council wishes to bring
these laws into compliance with federal law, which prohibits it.

In effect, approving the amendment would make the retail sale of
marijuana illegal in the city. Good idea.

At first, I thought that seven reasonable people, the planning
commissioners, would slam dunk this and go home. Believe it or not,
there was serious discussion about voting down the amendment and
allowing the sale of Mary Jane right here at home.

Some commissioners hid behind the confusing legal battle going on
nationwide and even one local congressman's bill to legalize the sale
of marijuana nationwide.

The legal conflict came about when the state of California passed
Proposition 215, allowing patients with certain disabilities, a.k.a.
qualified medical users, to grow and use the wondrous weed.

When asked about this by the commissioners, Deputy City Attorney
Leonie Mulvihill stated very clearly that federal law trumps Prop. 215
and further that this issue had gone to the U.S. Supreme Court, which
declared the sale of marijuana to be illegal in the US of A. Period!

One commissioner, who claimed to have done "a lot of Googling" on this
issue, asked for comments from one of the best-known police officials
in Orange County, calling him "the police officer." I was glad to see
our city planning guru, Scott Hess, advise the commissioner that "the
police officer has a name: Capt. Chuck Thomas."

I don't know how you get to be a planning commissioner without knowing
Capt. Thomas. This commissioner believes that the decision to use
marijuana "is between a physician and his patient" and further that he
would "hate to see the federal government strong-arm the state."

Another of the seven sages went on and on about how he was conflicted
and how he had consulted with a dozen or so experts on the subject. He
was concerned and did not "see the need for Huntington Beach to lead
the charge." He further stated "This war on drugs - we're definitely
losing."

These two commissioners appear to be future City Council candidates
and were obviously trying to cater to what they consider to be the
mindset of the voters. They were instrumental in having the item
continued to a future date.

Well, I'm not running for anything and this is an opinion
column.

In my opinion, marijuana is an illegal dangerous mind- and
behavior-altering narcotic that for many is the first step into a
world of addiction - addiction to heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and
worse.

If there is a medical benefit to its use, it should be FDA-approved
and sold in pharmacies with a doctor's prescription just like any
other drug, not downtown on Main Street.