TORRANCE CITY COUNCIL OFFICIALS FAIL TO BLOCK MARIJUANA

Members vote 3-2 in favor of a ban on medical dispensaries, but four
votes were required. The proposal could be brought back.

A proposed ordinance that would have denied business licenses to
dispensaries of medical marijuana stalled at this week's Torrance City
Council meeting, falling one vote short of passage.

The council, normally a seven-member panel, was down to five Tuesday
night. As a result, the final vote was 3-2 in favor of keeping
licenses out of the hands of businesses that violate federal law.

Under the city charter, it takes four votes to enact new
ordinances.

Mayor Frank Scotto came out in favor of the proposal, as did council
members Hope Witkowsky and Tom Brewer. Pat McIntyre and Bill
Sutherland voted against it.

Councilman Paul Nowatka was out of the country, and the seventh seat
has been vacant since Scotto's inauguration as mayor.

With only one more vote needed, Nowatka now plays a key role. City
Attorney John Fellows suggested that if the councilman is interested
in backing the ordinance, he can ask for the item to resurface at a
future council session.

At this week's meeting, Assistant City Attorney Ron Pohl pointed out
that the proposed change was not based on a single establishment or
even a specific type of business. Rather, he said, it would be
intended to prevent any business that violates federal law from
setting up shop in Torrance.

"We're simply saying we're not going to license businesses that want
to open in a strip mall and start selling marijuana or any other thing
that violates federal law," Pohl said. "We're not going to issue a
business license (to a printing company) that's going to counterfeit
American dollars."

But it was a local cannabis dispensary on Hawthorne Boulevard that
prompted the drafting of the ordinance, which was recommended by
Police Chief James Herren. Green Cross of Torrance, which operates
discreetly from a storefront with reflective glass, opened sometime
around April.

On Tuesday night, several audience members defended Green Cross -- and
the general need for a medical marijuana distributor in Torrance.

Amanda Brazel, a spokeswoman for the group Americans for Safe Access,
said patients afflicted with painful illnesses shouldn't have to sit
in traffic to find relief. While possession and distribution of
medical marijuana is illegal under federal law, she noted that
California voters have decided otherwise, and she urged the council to
side with them.

"The federal government is out of touch with what the people need,"
Brazel said, "and the patients need this medicine."

Local activist Bonnie Mae Barnard said she would consider herself "the
most anti-drug person" around. But, she said, she has witnessed the
benefits of medicinal marijuana while caring for a friend who was
diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

"I'm just concerned that there is a real need out there," she
said.

Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act, was endorsed
by a majority of California voters in 1996, allowing doctors to
recommend marijuana to patients being treated for cancer, anorexia,
AIDS, chronic pain, glaucoma and other illnesses.

However, the initiative is at odds with federal law, and local
municipalities have been caught in the middle.

In recent months, several area cities -- Redondo Beach, Hawthorne,
Lawndale and Hermosa Beach -- have adopted moratoriums to study the
issue and explore possible zoning options for medical marijuana
dispensaries, also known as co-ops.