BUZZ WORDS ARE "LOCAL CONTROL"

All but lost amid other concerns in Temecula is the city's war on
medical-marijuana dispensaries.

Most recently, the city again has prevailed in court in keeping
storefronts from opening.

And in a recent incident designed for an anti-dispensary campaign,
city cops fatally shot a guard dog at a T-shirt shop/alleged medpot
distribution center where a stash of the healing herb was seized.
They were looking for a bat reportedly used in an alleged assault there in May.

Meanwhile, at the south end of Front Street, a would-be dispensary is
battling an injunction won by the city that bars the distribution of medpot.

The solution here, as with other issues facing municipalities across
the country, is local control.

Without commenting on the federal role regarding pot, let's just say
they have bigger problems than dispensaries operating under state law.

The real answer is for certain propositions and legislative action to
take into account the differences between municipalities and require
local votes on accepting the state default or a "looser" version.

Take alcohol, for example. In some states, there are "dry" cities and
counties because the voters there voted not to allow the sale of
demon rum and all its cousins.

Want a drinkie-poo? Gotta drive to the next "wet" jurisdiction and
bring it home, where you can drink your liver to death.

Imagine if Prop. 215 had been written to require city and county
elections to confirm the state default or loosen the rules.

Interestingly, Trinity County in the state's northern reach is the
only municipality noted on the NORML (National Organization for the
Repeal of Marijuana Laws) website as seeking its citizens' opinion on
what the rules should be.

Look, it's just another aspect of us deciding how we want our little
corner of this shrinking world to operate.

(Just FYI, by default, if you have a doctor's recommendation, it is
legal to possess at least six mature or 12 immature plants and 8
ounces of the harvested herb anywhere in California ---- including Temecula.)

In Temecula, the council has decided without much disagreement they
don't want dispensaries and so far have prevailed, but it would be so
much easier everywhere if, in the first instance, counties and cities
were required to hold elections regarding the distribution of medical
marijuana in their jurisdictions.

Think of all the lawyers' fees we'd save.

Even now, in San Diego, a coalition of patients and providers has
submitted a petition with 46,000 signatures to force the city to
repeal or put to a vote what they see as a restrictive dispensary ordinance.

This follows years of back-and-forthing that has accomplished nothing
except to enrich our lawyer friends and help keep the illegal pot
industry in business.