BALANCE NEEDED IN LOCAL RULES FOR MEDICAL POT SHOPS

CORTE MADERA town officials are playing catchup, trying to regulating
medicinal marijuana dispensaries after two already are open and doing
business in town.

One of the medical pot shops already has more than 2,500 clients and
is objecting to the town setting a limit on its number of patients.

This local debate is rooted in voter passage of Proposition 215 in
1996. It is worth noting that two-thirds of Corte Madera's voters
backed Proposition 215's legalization of the "compassionate" use of
medical marijuana.

While some local towns - including San Rafael, Sausalito and Mill
Valley - have declared moratoriums in an attempt to forbid the opening
of pot shops, Corte Madera didn't put a preemptive law on its books.

The threat of federal raids for years had kept a lid on new pot shops,
but the door swung open last year when U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder announced that the Justice Department would no longer pounce on
medical marijuana clubs that open under California law.

Since then, new medical marijuana clubs have opened in Corte Madera,
Sausalito, Kentfield and Santa Venetia. They join the Marin Alliance
for Medical Marijuana in Fairfax, which town officials say, has
operated without problems for more than a decade.

The Fairfax club also has had to abide by more than a dozen conditions
set by the town.

Corte Madera officials are trying to come up with responsible limits
on where medical pot clubs can open and how they are operated.

They need to balance the requests from patients who seek local access
to medical marijuana with legitimate concerns of parents who want such
dispensaries located a reasonable distance from schools and children.

The issue would be easier had Proposition 215 and state law done the
right thing, which would be to put licensed pharmacies in charge of
dispensing medical marijuana under doctors' prescriptions.

But they didn't, which leaves local governments struggling to each
come up with rules that provide a fair balance of access and controls.

That's exactly what Corte Madera should be trying to
achieve.

Crafting the rules will be even more difficult given that two clubs
are already open for business in town.

The rules likely won't please everyone, because there are those who
believe "compassionate" access to medical marijuana should be largely
unfettered and those who would prefer that people have to leave town
to get the medical pot.

We urge Corte Madera officials to take the time to come up with rules
that are responsive and responsible to all sides.