PLANNING COMMISSION TO REVIEW COUNTY'S POT DISPENSARY ORDINANCE

Revised Proposal Addresses Only Land Use Provisions; Other Rules to Follow

The county's Planning Commission on Friday will consider a medical
marijuana dispensary ordinance that is markedly stripped down from
the draft released in March.

Officials with the county's Department of Planning and Land Use said
they decided to break up the earlier, much-criticized proposal into
smaller pieces.

The department's new proposal, released Friday, addresses only the
zoning elements of the ordinance, including where the dispensaries
can be located.

The regulatory aspects, such as licensing, will be addressed in a
separate ordinance written by the San Diego County Sheriff's
Department, said Joe Farace, a project manager with the Department of
Planning and Land Use Department.

"There was no need to take the regulatory portion to the Planning
Commission because they don't have the regulatory authority," Farace said.

Eugene Davidovich, a medical marijuana advocate and San Diego County
spokesman for the national group Americans for Safe Access, said the
new proposal was a little better than the previous one, but that it
still has significant problems, especially if the regulating
authority remains with the Sheriff's Department.

By restricting medical marijuana dispensaries to industrial areas and
having law enforcement regulate them, the county is treating the
facilities like strip clubs instead of medical facilities, Davidovich said.

"This isn't an adult entertainment business," he said. "This isn't a
police-regulated business. It should be regulated by the health
department. The police are not trained in the medical marijuana law."

Medical marijuana advocates, including Davidovich, blasted the
earlier proposal because they said the rules would make it next to
impossible to open medical marijuana dispensaries anywhere in
unincorporated San Diego County.

Critics also said that other provisions of the original draft
ordinance would violate patient privacy rules, such as giving law
enforcement officers access to patient lists and security videotapes.

The proposal that will be discussed Friday by the Planning Commission
would limit medical marijuana facilities to industrial zoned
properties and require that the dispensaries be 1,000 feet away from
residences, schools, churches, playgrounds and other dispensaries.

Those rules are the same as those in the earlier measure. But other
zoning requirements were changed or removed.

For example, a requirement that transactions be "fully visible from
the public street" was eliminated, as was a provision that would
eliminate all exterior signs.

The Planning Commission can make recommendations on the proposed
ordinance during its public meeting May 14, but it will be up to the
Board of Supervisors to make the final decision. The proposal will be
reviewed in a late June meeting.

California voters legalized medical marijuana in 1996. In August, the
county enacted a moratorium on the dispensaries through August 2010.

Planning Commission meetings are held at the Department of Planning
and Land Use, 5201 Ruffin Road, Suite B, in San Diego, starting at 9 a.m.

For more on the proposed ordinance, visit the county website.