VENTURA PUBLIC INPUT SOUGHT ON SAFE, LAWFUL ACCESS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Last fall, when dozens of medicinal marijuana users went to the
Ventura City Council to urge it to show compassion and give them a
legal place to get their medicine, the council responded just as
every other community in Ventura County had in the past: It said no.

But then the council did something unexpected: It gave the crowd hope
and a challenge.

The council adopted a 10-month moratorium on medical marijuana
dispensaries but directed city officials to use that time to further
study the issue, hold public meetings and examine alternatives,
including potential land-use language allowing medical marijuana
cooperatives and collectives in certain areas of town.

The city plans two town halls on Thursday and April 1 to solicit
public input and begin dialogue on how to allow safe and lawful
access to medical marijuana. The 5:30 p.m. meetings are set in the
Community Meeting Room at City Hall, 501 Poli St.

The council has opposed for-profit dispensaries but expressed a
willingness to look at possible rules allowing nonprofit collectives
and cooperatives, which typically are operated by medical marijuana
users and focused on patient care.

Local patients are eager to get started and craft rules everyone can
live with, said James Devine, a Ventura attorney who specializes in
medical marijuana law and represents scores of users like himself.

We have to change the dialogue so it isn't just about weed," he said,
pointing to the medical benefits and how legal outlets could provide
a financial windfall for the city.

Future cooperatives must do more than just sell pot, he said. They
must offer other services, like health classes, counseling, yoga,
acupuncture and gardening and vegetable-growing skills.

The only way to survive is to be something more than just a
dispensing cooperative," he said. "My plan is for these centers to be
able to say the men's bathroom is larger than the area where they
actually dispense medical cannabis."

While Ventura could become the first to allow over-the-counter
distribution in Ventura County (only delivery services are now
available), Oakland voters last year overwhelmingly passed a measure
to tax the city's four medical marijuana dispensaries, which is
expected to raise upwards of $400,000 annually.

Proponents say it showed voters were comfortable with the way
Oakland, a city of more of nearly 500,000, has limited and regulated
dispensaries.

I think the best thing we did was limit the number to four," said
Arturo M. Sanchez, an assistant to the city administrator who
oversees special business permits, including medical cannabis dispensaries.

Oakland dispensaries must comply with 27 conditions. They can't stay
open past 8 p.m., are limited to areas away from schools and
libraries, must provide licensed security and face annual
inspections, and must make sure patients' recommendations to use
marijuana are from legitimate doctors.

Since the Ventura City Council voted last fall, several new
developments have occurred:

n Backers of an initiative to legalize marijuana possession for those
21 and older in California have submitted more than 700,000
signatures, a number probably high enough to get it on the November
ballot. The measure would allow adults to possess up to one ounce of
marijuana for personal use. Cities would decide whether to allow
retail sales and levy taxes.

n In January, the Los Angeles City Council adopted a medical
marijuana ordinance that experts say will impose some of the toughest
rules in the state and allow city officials to shut down hundreds of
dispensaries. Restrictions on where they can be located -- at least
1,000 feet from schools and churches -- are expected to eliminate
most sites outside of isolated industrial parks. Countering, medical
marijuana advocates sued the city on Tuesday, saying the sweeping
rules violate state law and are so restrictive they will cause even
law-abiding businesses to shut down.

Recent polling shows more than half of Californians support
legalizing and taxing marijuana, and U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder said he no longer would take action against medical marijuana
dispensaries if they comply with state and local laws.

A majority of Ventura voters embraced Proposition 215, the
Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which permits patients to legally use
medicinal marijuana in California.

Still, it could be a tough sell.

The California Police Chiefs Association has said marijuana clubs
across the state are little more than fronts for drug dealers.

Prosecutor Gregory Brose of the Ventura County District Attorney's
Office urged Ventura to develop rules to block all dispensaries,
which he testified were illegal.

And one of the medical marijuana camp's biggest sympathizers, former
City Councilman Ed Summers, lost his re-election bid in November and
was replaced by Mike Tracy, a former Ventura city police chief.

Further, city officials expressed concern that pot outlets, even ones
run by well-intentioned owners, could lead to enforcement issues,
complaints from neighbors and increased crime.

On the Net:

http://www.cityofventura.net/happenings/medm