SUPERVISORS ADOPT RESTRICTIVE MEDICAL MARIJUANA ORDINANCE

Advocates Say Restrictions Are Far Too Stringent

County supervisors on Wednesday adopted medical marijuana dispensary
regulations that critics say severely limit where the embattled
collectives can locate.

Supervisor Ron Roberts cast the lone vote against the measure, saying
a last-minute amendment from Supervisor Dianne Jacob that pared the
list of locations in unincorporated areas from 25 to as few as 15 was
too restrictive.

"I am concerned that we are reducing the number of sites down to next
to none," said Roberts, who has consistently been at odds with his
fellow supervisors in their battle against medicinal marijuana. "I
think we're violating the spirit of the law."

So did many of the more than 100 people who packed the supervisors'
room at the County Administration Center in downtown San Diego for
the latest round in the county's years-long fight against medical marijuana.

Oceanside's Jeeni Criscenzo said she began smoking marijuana for
cancer pain three years ago. The county's resistance to medical
marijuana "forced me to act outside the law for my own health," she
said. "You have more regulations in this ordinance than a pharmacy has."

Those regulations include limiting dispensaries to industrial zones,
requiring a licensed, armed guard; video monitoring; precise records
of all transactions, including the names of marijuana suppliers and
their addresses; and no selling of any marijuana-laced food or drink products.

That drew the ire of Neal Plastik, who said the drug works far better
for him than conventional painkillers.

"You shouldn't be regulating people who are just trying to help other
people," he said.

Jacob's amendment increased the minimum distance between dispensaries
and homes from a proposed 500 feet to 1,000 feet, and from a proposed
600 feet from churches, parks and schools to 1,000 feet.

Valley Center's Eugene Davidovich, spokesman for the group Americans
for Safe Access, which claims a local membership of several thousand,
contended that shuts out dispensaries entirely.

"What they have done is eradicate medical marijuana anywhere in the
county," he said after the meeting.

A county spokesman said planners maintain there are at least 15
potential sites under the guidelines, which mirror those in place for
strip clubs. Three of those sites are in Ramona and two in the San
Dieguito area.

The regulations also require dispensary operators to pay up to
$20,000 to obtain a license, money the Sheriff's Department will use
to pay for inspectors and assure compliance with state and county laws.

In subsequent years, operators will be required to pay a lesser
amount still being determined as an annual fee required to stay in business.

Several speakers urged supervisors to reject dispensaries entirely,
saying they send the wrong message to kids that marijuana use is acceptable.

"Dispensaries are nothing more than storefronts for illegal
distribution of marijuana," said Barbara Gordon, a county resident
whose statement typified the anti-dispensary testimony.

The supervisors' battle against medical marijuana stretches back to
2005, when North County Supervisors Bill Horn and Pam Slater-Price,
along with Jacob, voted to oppose a state law requiring counties to
create medical marijuana registries and issue identification cards to patients.

Around the same time, the county district attorney's office also took
an aggressive stance, and local law enforcement officials helped
federal drug agents crack down on dispensaries operating inside cities.

In 2006, the supervisors filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 1996
initiative approved by state and county voters allowing the use of
medical marijuana. After losing in lower courts, the case ended last
year when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider it.

Shortly before the vote Wednesday, Horn and Supervisor Greg Cox said
they remain frustrated that federal law bans medical marijuana,
prohibiting its distribution by regular pharmacies filling a doctor's
prescription.

"It should be dispensed at a pharmacy, and not in a brown paper bag
at special locations," Horn said.

Davidovich, who said he uses medical marijuana for chronic pain, said
his group will seek to continue working with county officials to
modify the regulations.

"It's very disappointing," he said after the ordinance was approved.
"They are not helping patients."