MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES NOT BANNED YET

The Planning Commission decided Thursday to push back a proposed ban
on medical marijuana dispensaries on unincorporated county land for
at least two weeks, while two commissioners work with county staff to
develop what they say would be a more balanced presentation of the issue.

Commissioners also said they needed time to digest nearly five hours
of comments from the public - most of them from medical marijuana
patients who said using it has dramatically increased their quality
of life without the side effects of other drugs they had been prescribed.

Other speakers supported the staff conclusion that the county's
moratorium on new marijuana dispensaries should be upgraded to a ban,
based on what they said was the immorality of using it and statistics
suggesting crime increased around dispensaries in other counties.

The Planning Commission will reconsider the issue Feb. 17, then
choose whether to recommend the ban to the San Bernardino County
Board of Supervisors.