CITY COUNCIL TO MULL POT BAN

PASADENA -- A U.S. Supreme Court ruling and a series of federal raids on
pot clubs in San Francisco have hardened support for a permanent ban on
medical marijuana dispensaries located here, even as some City Council
members defend the use of marijuana to treat certain debilitating illnesses.

The council had postponed debate on a proposed ban several times to await a
decision in the case of Gonzales v. Raich, with some members hoping for a
ruling that affirms the right of patients to obtain marijuana for medicinal
uses in California.

But the court went the other way, finding federal prohibitions trumped
California's Proposition 215. With the decision now in hand, the Pasadena
City Attorney's Office has issued an opinion recommending the council adopt
an ordinance tonight to bar dispensaries altogether.

"Raich confirmed that federal law still prevails and it is unlawful to
possess, distribute, cultivate, transfer or sell marijuana,' City Attorney
Michele Beal Bagneris writes. "Although the state may not enforce this law,
it is clear that the federal government can and will.'

Vice Mayor Steve Madison was the leading voice on the council in advocating
that the city wait for the Supreme Court to rule before taking any action.

The former federal prosecutor said he has had dealings with a Department of
Justice crackdown on a medical marijuana cooperative in West Hollywood,
which he says showed the federal government's fervor in enforcing anti-drug
laws.

"According to the highest court in the land this is not only illegal
conduct, it is criminal conduct,' Madison said. Though he said he
sympathizes with medical marijuana advocates, he said they need to make
their case to Congress, not the Pasadena City Council.

"There are ways to change the law,' Madison said, "but we (the city) ought
not facilitate the breaking of the law.'

Aside from the legal issues, Councilman Steve Haderlein said there was
ample evidence to suggest dispensaries attract crime and other problems
wherever they are located.

"We have gone through all this work on nuisance liquor stores and this just
feels the same way,' Haderlein said. "I just don't see this as being a very
neighborhood-friendly development.'

With no one seeking to bring a dispensary here at this point, some council
members see little urgency to implement a ban.

A limited moratorium is sufficient for Mayor Bill Bogaard. He says that
would give the state time to devise regulations for how and where
dispensaries can operate, perhaps avoiding the nuisances he said some other
cities have suffered.

Bogaard said his position is tempered by "the strong evidence that medical
marijuana can offer relief to persons suffering from severe illnesses.'

Councilman Sid Tyler echoed this view. "I am sympathetic, personally, to
those individuals who are chronically ill or terminal to have this kind of
relief, when it is properly prescribed by a physician,' Tyler said.

The Raich decision did not overturn Proposition 215, which eliminated state
sanctions on possessing cannabis with a doctor's prescription. Instead, the
court found the federal government could prosecute patients for possession,
and that the state law provides no defense.

Ten other states have laws similar to Proposition 215, which was passed by
California voters in 1996 .

Even before Raich was handed down in early June, a number of cities and
counties began looking at bans in light of a report from the city of
Rocklin, which detailed problems around some pot clubs. In all, 47 cities
and counties implemented temporary bans and seven others permanently barred
their establishment, according to Americans for Safe Access, a medical
marijuana advocacy group.

Another 17 cities and counties decided to regulate dispensary operations.

The only known dispensary in the San Gabriel Valley opened this year in
Hacienda Heights, an unincorporated area in the East San Gabriel Valley.

The county recently took the owners to court to try to shut the business
down. A Superior Court judge ruled the dispensary could remain open.

Kris Hermes, legal campaign director for Americans for Safe Access, said
the Raich case "has no impact' on dispensaries in the state of California,
and criticized bans, whether temporary or permanent, as "punitive.'

"It prevents people from coming to the aid of patients,' Hermes said.

The group has filed a lawsuit to overturn a ban in the city of Fresno, and
Hermes said legal action is being considered against the half-dozen other
cities and counties with permanent bans.

"These dispensaries provide safe access to patients and they should be
condoned,' Hermes said.

The California chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws) estimates there are 100,000 people with prescriptions for
medical marijuana in the state.