ORDINANCE FOR DISPENSARIES GOES TO COUNCIL

City Expected To Adopt Some Form Of Policy In The Coming
Months

STOCKTON - The Planning Commission forwarded to the City Council on
Thursday an ordinance to sanction medical marijuana dispensaries, a
policy the council is expected to adopt in some form this month or
next.

The commission's 7-0 vote cheered activists at City
Hall.

Earlier Thursday, Mayor Ann Johnston said, "I think the council's
very supportive of it."

The commission's approval came two months after it first considered
the matter, commissioners settling on provisions allowing no more
than three dispensaries, limiting them to certain commercial and
industrial areas, requiring various security measures and
prohibiting dispensaries from growing marijuana on site.

Before approving the ordinance, commissioners distanced themselves
from the policy decision behind it. The commission, which primarily
makes land-use decisions, was acting at the direction of the council,
Commissioners Ed Surritt and Christopher Kontos said.

"I'm unsure whether this is the right policy or not the right
policy," Kontos said. "They asked us to draft an ordinance. We've
done that."

Of the about 50 people who attended the hearing, most were medical
marijuana advocates who said they were grateful for the ordinance.

"Thank you very much," said Craig Litwin, a former Sebastopol mayor
and a medical marijuana advocate who has been a regular at Stockton
hearings.

No member of the public spoke Thursday in opposition to the
ordinance.

The matter was forced on City Hall in November, when Pathways Family
Health Cooperative Counseling, a dispensary, opened on East Acacia
Street. Its opening was followed by at least two other dispensary
openings, and the council at its annual retreat in January
identified medical marijuana as a subject of high priority.

In a bid to stop the medical marijuana market from expanding while
the city considered an ordinance to regulate it, City Hall filed a
lawsuit last month to force Pathways to close, claiming dispensaries
are not allowed by city code. Pathways has said its opening is
consistent with state law and that the city's treatment of
dispensaries is unfair. A judge is scheduled to consider the case
April 30.

On Thursday, Commissioner Sam Fant asked if the city could prohibit
dispensaries that have opened already from obtaining one of the three
dispensary licenses the ordinance, if adopted, would allow. The
council has not yet drafted rules to govern the issuance of those
licenses.

Deputy City Attorney Guy Petzold said the city intends to let anyone
apply to open a dispensary but that "whether or not they have
illegally operated a dispensary" could be considered when
applications are judged.