BAN ON MEDICAL POT STORES STAYS

With its temporary moratorium set to expire, the Folsom City Council
was expected to adopt a permanent ban against operating medical
marijuana dispensaries in the city at last night's meeting.

Citing a conflict between state and federal law and a feared burden
on police services, city council members held a public hearing on the
prohibitive ordinance at its July 11 meeting. No residents stepped
forward to offer comments.

Interim Assistant Community Development Department Director Gail
Furness De Pardo said last week she couldn't see "why it wouldn't be
adopted." Results of the meeting were unknown at press time.

No dispensaries have sought to open in the city, she added. "This is
more just making sure there wouldn't be any conflict."

Both Roseville and Rocklin have adopted similar bans. Elk Grove has
adopted prohibitive measures that make opening a dispensary in the
city difficult.

"There are a number of communities that prohibit or to some degree
legislate whether dispensaries can operate," said Folsom Police
Captain Paul Bonaventure.

While California voters approved Proposition 215, which allows the
use of medicinal marijuana with a doctor's recommendation,
Bonaventure said the decision to allow dispensaries to operate
remains a community decision. "There's nothing in the law that says
you have to put in a dispensary or allow a dispensary."

The impetus for the original moratorium came in 2004, shortly after
the state Legislature adopted a voluntary identification card program
for qualified patients and primary caregivers, among other regulations.

Federal law still prohibits the possession and use of controlled
substances. Nor does it make a distinction when it comes to medicinal
marijuana users.

The conflict between states' rights and federal law has seen clashes
in the past, with a Roseville dispensary closing after a federal raid
in 2004. The city ultimately repealed its ordinance allowing such
dispensaries to operate.

As recently as April, federal drug enforcement agents raided a
medical marijuana store in midtown Sacramento.

But Bruce Mirken of Marijuana Policy Project says a fear of federal
raids isn't a good reason to prohibit dispensaries from operating.
"The Feds have really gone after very few of these establishments,"
he said, adding that by honoring voters' decision to approve "The
Compassionate Use Act of 1996," California will "drag the federal
government kicking and screaming into the 21st century."

As for the argument that dispensaries would increase the burden on
police resources, medicinal marijuana advocates call the notion
counterintuitive.

"I have yet to see any convincing proof of it," said Mirken. "(These
arguments) get trotted out without any evidence that they're true."

Both Mirken and Ryan Landers, political affairs director for The
American Alliance For Medical Cannabis, say regulating these
facilities and bringing them above ground would actually lessen the
burden on law enforcement.

"That is ultimately what Sacramento realized," said Landers. Half a
dozen dispensaries have been operating in the city without any
significant issues, he added. "Ultimately, we're better neighbors
than any other business I've ever seen."

Bonaventure said he couldn't comment on whether regulated
dispensaries would lessen people's reliance on street dealers, but
pointed to other communities that have adopted similar bans because
of law enforcement issues.

At a drugs and sexual predators forum in May, Folsom law enforcement
officials said drug complaints had tripled since last year and that
marijuana use is "huge" among teenagers.

But Landers says it is the patients - dealing with issues ranging
from chronic pain to terminal illness - who are being victimized.
"You can't just dump your problem on other cities," Landers said.

"There's no doubt these dispensaries provide a necessary and useful
benefit. Patients shouldn't have to get their medicine on the
street," added Mirken. "There's no reason that a medical marijuana
dispensary needs to be treated differently than any other business
that needs a little oversight," he said, pointing to stores that sell
prescription medicines.