NAPA OKS MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

Napa will become the first city in Napa County to allow medical
marijuana dispensaries for patients with authorizations from medical
doctors.

After seven months of hearings dominated by passionate testimonials
about the medicinal benefits of pot, the City Council voted
unanimously Tuesday night to make medical pot available to residents.

Council members asserted that well-regulated dispensaries can provide
a service to people with medical needs without becoming a blight on
the city.

It could be as much as a year before the city issues a permit for its
first dispensary. In coming months, the city will hold a competition
to select a non-profit group to apply for a permit.

The use permit process alone could take six months, with public
hearings in front of the Planning Commission and council on the
suitability of a site.

Mayor Jill Techel said a majority of Napans support medical
marijuana. When voters statewide approved an initiative legalizing
cannabis for medical uses in 1996, some 60 percent of local residents
voted 'yes,' she said.

"We feel voters have voted and said they want a safe place for care,"
Techel said. Napa's ordinance is loaded with security requirements to
reduce the chances that a clinic will create problems, she said.

Councilman Pete Mott said Napa had written a model ordinance better
than Sebastopol's, which is often cited as the gold standard for
assuring a well-run clinic.

The city will allow only one clinic the first year, with the
possibility of one more the second year if there is a demonstrated
need. Membership in the first clinic will be limited to 10 percent of
the city's population, or almost 8,000 people. City residency will
not be a requirement for service.

The Napa Police Department initially provided a laundry list of
reasons as to why marijuana dispensaries would not be a good idea,
saying that some cities have seen crime increases.

Council members and cannabis advocates cited examples of cities where
such dispensaries have not caused problems.

Speakers at Tuesday night's hearing said medical marijuana would
provide needed symptom relief to people with a variety of
life-threatening and debilitating conditions.

"This is not recreational marijuana, it's medical marijuana," Jed
Hodges told the council.

"There is a need for compassion," said David Aten, citing examples of
people he knew with health crises.

As things now stand, "Anyone can get medical marijuana," Jack Bauer
said. "What this will do is control it and make it available to those
who need it."

Marijuana dispensaries will be allowed in certain office and light
industrial zones, but not within 500 feet of schools, parks and other
areas where youths gather.

To buy medical pot, a patient would have to have an authorization
written by a medical doctor.

The city's ordinance allows people to devote up to 25 square feet in
their homes for growing medical pot. The nonprofit group selected to
run a dispensary will also be allowed grow plants in a warehouse in
an industrial zone.

The city will scrutinize applicants, requiring criminal background
checks, security plans and guarantees that most revenue get plowed
back into the business, officials said.

An applicant that offers to donate profits to community groups would
likely be favored over one that did not, council members said.

Tuesday's public hearing lasted 30 minutes, with all but two of a
dozen speakers endorsing the city's medical marijuana ordinance.

The other four cities in the Napa Valley have all imposed moratoriums
on pot clinics or banned them outright.

Dispensary applicants will have to pay a $7,000 deposit to cover the
costs for reviewing their project. The applicant chosen for use
permit review will have to deposit another $8,000.

Napa's ordinance follows state laws and court decisions which set
rules for cities and counties that want to allow medical marijuana
dispensaries, city officials said.