SAN LUIS REGULATES MARIJUANA

SAN LUIS, Ariz. - This city took the first step Wednesday to regulate
marijuana dispensaries under the state's new medical marijuana law.

The action comes after voters in November approved a ballot measure
allowing Arizonans to obtain marijuana for medical reasons with a
doctor's prescription. The law is set to take effect in January.

At its regular meeting Wednesday, the council approved two ordinances.
One allows for the establishment of marijuana dispensaries and for
regulated cultivation of pot, and a second establishes a fee of $2,000
to open a dispensary.

Even as the council adopted both ordinances by unanimous vote, Mayor
Juan Carlos Escamilla noted, "There are still many questions about how
they're going to operate and where. With these ordinances, we are
simply preparing for what comes."

The council's action, he added, simply allows the city to be ready for
when the law takes effect.

"There are still many discussions to come. We will have a regulation
in place for people who would like to take out a license for this
activity, but that's not all we have to regulate. There will be more
measures we will have to discuss and approve."

What was approved Wednesday night, Escamilla added, "are regulations
that for the time being, we can implement until we can be better
prepared, studying what other cities are doing and talking with people
in California - because that is where this law was passed - so that we
can see what needs to be done here."

City officials' other concern, he added, is that the new law not have
any negative impacts on the community.

"Since the voters approved this, it has to be something controlled,
complying with the rules. We hope that the doctors will be
professional and that they don't prescribe it only because someone has
a headache or back pains, that (patients) truly need it and that it is
controlled."