OXNARD EXPECTED TO BAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA CENTER

Conflict Between State, Federal Drug Laws Cited

The Oxnard City Council will likely vote to ban medical marijuana
dispensaries tonight, citing an unresolved legal conflict between
state and federal laws.

"We have worked to try and figure it out, but I think it is now to
the point where Oxnard is not big enough to take on the federal
government," said Councilman Dean Maulhardt, one of two members who
hoped the city could allow a dispensary.

"I can't support putting Oxnard in the middle of that conflict,"
Maulhardt said Monday.

The conflict Maulhardt refers to is this: In 1996, California voters
approved the Compassionate Use Act, which allows patients suffering
from a host of diseases, such as cancer or AIDS, to use marijuana
with a doctor's recommendation.

In 2003, Sacramento lawmakers followed by adopting a law that
establishes identification cards for users. Thirty-five of
California's 58 counties have implemented the program. Ventura County
is not among them.

But the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal laws against all
marijuana use take precedence over the state initiative.

"The contradiction between the state and federal laws is the problem
for us, and we're not ready to get tangled in that right now," Oxnard
Planning Manager Sue Martin said Monday.

A San Diego judge ruled in December that the state law is legal, but
San Diego County has appealed the ruling.

Oxnard began researching the issue in 2005, after a medical marijuana
user inquired about opening a dispensary. Council members adopted a
temporary ban on such facilities while city planners, lawyers and law
enforcement officials researched the issue.

The panel extended the ban twice. It is set to expire next month.

The city has received at least six inquiries from other users about
opening dispensaries.

Meanwhile, a staff report for tonight's hearing cites other problems:
Federal drug officers have stepped up raids of known dispensaries.
Crime goes up in cities that allow them.

And Ventura County has not implemented the identification card
program, also bowing to the conflict over state and federal laws.

Camarillo resident Lisa Schwarz, a former registered nurse and
founding member of Ventura County Alliance of Medical Marijuana
Patients, said she wasn't disappointed in the city's recommendation.

"And I don't blame them," Schwarz said Monday, citing increased raids
by federal agents on dispensaries.

State agencies apparently don't track the number of dispensaries.
However, Aaron Smith, a statewide organizer with Safe Access Now,
which advocates implementing the California laws, estimates that
roughly 400 dispensaries operate in California with some 300
concentrated in Los Angeles County.

Smith said he was disappointed by Oxnard's recommendation, arguing
that a permanent ban would violate the spirit if not the letter of state law.

"Oxnard is a subdivision of the state of California, not the federal
government," Smith said. "The City Council needs to uphold and
implement state laws. They're not an arm of the federal government.