PLANNING COMMISSION TO CONSIDER BAN ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

The Planning Commission will consider revising the city charter on
Wednesday to permanently bar medical marijuana dispensaries from
operating in Downey.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Citing federal law that still makes it a crime to grow, use or possess
marijuana, city administrators recommend the Planning Commission amend
the charter to prohibit the dispensaries.

The City Council last year enacted a moratorium on medical marijuana
clinics that is scheduled to expire Nov. 10.

In a report prepared by community development director Brian Saeki and
senior planner David Blumenthal, city officials also cited reports of
violent crime -- specifically robberies and homicides -- at
dispensaries in neighboring cities.

"Besides crimes against persons and property, the operation of medical
marijuana dispensaries has been linked to organized criminal activity,
money laundering and firearm violations," the report states.

California voters approved the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes
in 1996. The state created a voluntary medical marijuana
identification card program in 2003 to protect residents from state
marijuana laws.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in June that of California's 481
incorporated cities, 132 have banned medical marijuana dispensaries.
Another 101 have enacted temporary moratoriums.

Best, Best & Krieger, before they were fired as the city's law firm,
wrote a whitepaper suggesting Downey had the discretion to either
regulate or prohibit medical marijuana clinics. The law firm also
warned the city against "adverse secondary impacts" dispensaries could
pose.

"On balance, any utility to medical marijuana patients in care giving
and convenience that marijuana dispensaries may appear to have on the
surface is enormously outweighed by a much darker reality that is
punctuated by the many adverse secondary effects created by their
presence in communities," Best, Best & Krieger wrote. "These drug
distribution centers have even proven to be unsafe for their own
proprietors."

The city of Los Angeles recently approved a restrictive ordinance
aimed at corralling the city's estimated 400 medical marijuana
dispensaries. Attorneys representing marijuana dispensaries given
shut-down notices have said they will sue Los Angeles to remain open.

Only one medical marijuana dispensary has operated legally in Downey.
It closed after the city's moratorium went into effect late last year.