PACIFIC GROVE REJECTS MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

In an effort to cut through the ambiguity posed by Proposition 19 on
the Nov. 2 ballot, calling for the legalization of marijuana in
California, the Pacific Grove City Council Tuesday voted 5-1 to ban
medical marijuana dispensaries outright in their city. City Attorney
David Laredo offered the council three options, including doing
nothing, banning marijuana, or exploring regulations of how to permit
dispensaries to operate.

He also informed the council that federal law, upheld by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 2005, declares marijuana an illegal drug and that it
pre-empts the state law allowing medical marijuana use that was
enacted in 1996 and refined by the state Legislature in 2004.

Laredo's recommendation was to do nothing, and Councilman Robert
Huitt, who cast the dissenting vote, agreed.

A moratorium on medical marijuana clinics is already in effect in the
city through Jan. 9 and there is plenty of time, Huitt argued, to
gather information on how to go about implementing a ban.

But the other council members disagreed.

"It's not a legal prescription drug," said Mayor Carmelita Garcia, who
moved to adopt the ban, adding, "no one is exempt from federal law."

The council decision won applause from supporters of the ban, who
included parents of school children and school officials, many of them
wearing red shirts and stick-on labels saying "Ban
Dispensaries."

Laredo said he could have an ordinance prepared for the council's
Sept. 1 meeting, and if adopted after final reading Sept. 15, would go
into effect Oct. 15.

Councilwoman Lisa Bennett was absent.