GILBERT SETS RULES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA LOCATIONS, HOURS

As area entrepreneurs prepare to capitalize on a voter-approved
initiative legalizing medical marijuana, the Gilbert Town Council
approved regulations on where, when and how the pot-based businesses
can operate.

Dispensaries and cultivation sites will only be allowed within
industrial zoning districts in northwest Gilbert near Morrison Ranch
and near Gilbert Road and the Santan Freeway.

The businesses must be 1,320 feet apart from each other, 1,000 feet
from parks, churches and schools, and 500 feet away from residential areas.

The new ordinance, approved 7-0 Thursday, also dictates the
facilities' hours of operation, which could not be earlier than 8
a.m. nor later than 6 p.m.

Under the new law, Gilbert could have at most five dispensaries
within town limits, Gilbert senior planner Mike Milillo said. The law
allows one dispensary for every 10 pharmacies, and Gilbert has about
50 pharmacies, he said.

The facilities would only be allowed in permanent buildings, could
not sell other merchandise and must be approved by the state.
Cultivation could only take place inside a closed, locked building
and not on a farm.

Town code also prohibits the dispensaries from making home deliveries
or offering a drive-through window.

Cultivation and storage can only occur in a closed, locked building,
and each business must submit security plan details to the town.

Council members Jenn Daniels and Linda Abbott expressed a desire to
be conservative with marijuana regulations as the state "settles in"
with the new law.

"I don't want to be known as the distribution point for medical
marijuana," Abbott said at Monday's study session. "That's not my
idea of economic development."

On Thursday, two residents came to speak in favor of medical
marijuana and asked the council for looser restrictions.

The medical use of marijuana could benefit about 13,000 people
diagnosed with cancer in Maricopa County every year, resident Robin
Schroeder said.

"Please remember these patients as you discuss this ordinance," she
said. "I believe that cannabis is a safe, natural alternative to
synthetic pharmaceuticals."

But resident Michael Mason said he fears legalization for medical use.

"I moved to Gilbert because there are no strip clubs, not a lot of
pawn shops - it was a good community," Mason said. "I just fear that
it would bring the value of my home down or it might give the wrong
impressions to my children."

With the narrow passage of Proposition 203 last year, Arizonans can
get permission from a doctor to use marijuana for medical purposes,
including treatment for cancer, chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures
and other conditions.

Before patients can purchase and use the drug, they must register
with the state Department of Health Services and submit a written
statement from a physician "that the patient is likely to receive
therapeutic or symptom-relieving benefits," according to the state's
election pamphlet. Milillo said the town is not able to collect sales
tax on medical marijuana sales, but the state Legislature may change
that in this session.