A PRESCRIPTION FOR REEFER MADNESS

The San Diego City Council, confronted with a successful challenge to
its new land-use restrictions on medical marijuana dispensaries, and
facing all bad choices, should not be judged harshly for repealing the
restrictions rather than put them to a costly election. But the result
is a mess.

All of the estimated 160 marijuana storefronts in San Diego have
always been illegal under federal law and are now again illegal under
local ordinances because they are not a permitted use in any zone. And
there is little to stop new dispensaries from springing up. But
whether the city bureaucracy will move against the collectives is
unknown; it did not do so during the two years that the now-dead
ordinance was under consideration.

Beyond that, it is anything but clear whether a new ordinance
regulating the location of dispensaries could manage to get the five
votes it would need at City Council. Some council members who voted
Monday to repeal the restrictions did so because they thought the
ordinance was too weak. Others voted for repeal because they thought
the restrictions were too strict. Councilman Todd Gloria, who has
repeatedly said the ordinance adopted last spring was the best
compromise possible, nevertheless voted to rescind it.

What happens next is anyone's guess.