SD COUNCIL GIVES FINAL APPROVAL TO POT RESTRICTIONS

Protestors Briefly Disrupt Meeting As Council Rejects Changes

Over the din of civil disobedience, the San Diego City Council
Tuesday signed off on a pair of tough new ordinances that require an
estimated 165 medical marijuana dispensaries to shutter their
storefronts within a month and apply for operating permits.

As council members prepared a vote to ratify sweeping limitations on
collectives, dozens of medical marijuana advocates approached the
dais, linked their arms and sang "We Shall Overcome." Several of the
demonstrators, wearing t-shirts urging the council to "Stop the Ban,"
refused police orders to move.

The council returned within a few minutes and voted 5-2. Five of the
demonstrators stayed even after the council adjourned, saying they
wanted to be the first arrested under an "illegal" ordinance. They
remained there late last night.

It is unclear how many dispensaries would eventually be able to
operate under the new rules, though most involved believe it would be
far fewer than exist today. The permit process could take more than a
year, depending on the amount of opposition.

Although some council members were open to renew debate over
controversial aspects of the rules, the majority of their colleagues
pressed hard for a vote. Opposing the measures were council members
Lorie Zapf, who has said they don't go far enough, and David Alvarez,
who said they went too far.

Councilman Carl DeMaio, who was present for morning testimony, was
absent for the vote. Todd Gloria, Marti Emerald, Kevin Faulconer,
Tony Young and Sherri Lightner voted in favor of the new policies.

Collectives have mushroomed at a velocity that has confounded city
officials and touched a nerve with some neighborhoods. The two city
ordinances would limit dispensaries to some commercial and industrial
zones. Cooperatives would have to be at least 600 feet from each
other as well as schools, playgrounds, libraries, child care and
youth facilities, parks and churches.

They also must operate as nonprofits, have curtailed business hours
and hire security guards.

Proponents contended that the regulations would provide direction to
police and code enforcement officers as they struggle to clamp
controls on dispensaries that have been operating in an unregulated
environment.

"If you want this to be illegal we could all go home," Emerald told
the crowd, many of whom gathered were gathered since 10 a.m. "Instead
we have a great opportunity to start off, I think, in a very strong position.

"For those who say this is a ban, you're dead wrong," she continued.
"I look at the maps and there are commercial and industrial areas in
just about every district of the city."

Gloria said while the legislation was more restrictive than he would
have liked, it was the result of a two-year public process. "Politics
is very much about what is possible, and what is possible is the
motion that was made last hearing and the motion I will make again," he said.

Opponents asserted that patients and providers should not be zoned
into far-flung commercial and industrial areas of the city and forced
into protracted compliance processes.

They implored the council to adopt a two-year compliance period for
existing collectives; allow storefronts in all commercial and
industrial areas; reduce the proximity restriction to 600 feet from
schools and amend the approval process to mirror that of pharmacies.

"It's OK to take one more week, two more weeks, to get it right, and
to put medical cannabis collectives and cooperatives in the
appropriate places for patients," said Don Duncan, state director for
Americans for Safe Access.

Donna Lambert, a cancer survivor and longtime medical marijuana
advocate, said all zoning should be used to expand patent access and
not used to hinder or undermine state law.

"This restrictive zoning and permitting process is an elitist model
that plays right into the hands of wealthy pot investors waiting to
move in on San Diego with their exclusive license to sell, keeping
prices high and continuing their pot monopolies," Lambert said.

State voters approved marijuana for medical use in 1996, but most
municipalities were slow to establish clear rules.

At least 50,000 people living in the county have doctors'
recommendations for medical marijuana, according to the San Diego
chapter of Americans for Safe Access. Some 700 of them have active
medical marijuana identification cards meant to shield qualified
patients from criminal prosecution.