HEMET: PERMANENT BAN SOUGHT ON POT DISPENSARIES

The Hemet Planning Commission is expected to recommend tonight an
ordinance that would permanently ban medical marijuana dispensaries
within the city limits.

Such shops have been banned under a temporary ordinance for almost two
years, which is the maximum time allowed by law for a temporary moratorium.

The motion in front of the commission tonight is a recommendation that
the City Council pass an ordinance that would keep the ban in place
for good. If it passes, the council could vote on the ordinance as
early as its Feb. 22 meeting.

The temporary moratorium is set to expire April 23. The city has
already used two extensions from its original 45-day emergency
ordinance passed in April 2009.

"We're trying to get this in place so there will not be a gap in
between the emergency ordinance and the permanent ordinance," said
Community Development Director Deanna Elliano. "We want to move
forward with the recommendation that is in the best interest in the
city of Hemet."

Dispensaries, which are for-profit stores that can sell pot to medical
marijuana patients, are allowed under California law. However, many
Inland cities along with Riverside and San Bernardino counties have
banned them under local ordinances.

The shops are often viewed by city leaders as having a greater
potential for theft and other problems. The city is investigating a
handful of locations that officials believe may be violating the ordinance.

Hemet's proposed ordinance would make it unlawful to operate a
dispensary or for store owners to lease their shops to someone hoping
to open a dispensary.

The ban would not prohibit a qualified patient from possessing, using
or growing marijuana in their own home, or a caregiver from providing
marijuana to a patient.

The city opted to wait nearly two years to make the ordinance
permanent because it was researching what other cities had done,
Elliano said, and because it did not want to make a decision prior to
a vote on last November's Prop. 19 that sought to legalize the
recreational use of marijuana.

Tonight's Planning Commission meeting starts at 6 at 450 E. Latham
Ave., Hemet.