RIALTO BECOMES LATEST CITY TO DEBATE MEDICAL-POT BAN

Council to Take Up Interim Ordinance at Next Meeting

RIALTO - The City Council will consider banning medical marijuana
facilities in the city on Wednesday.

The council will take up an urgent interim ordinance banning the
facilities from setting up shop in the city even though state law
allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

By voting to ban the facilities, Rialto would follow the lead of such
nearby cities as Ontario, Upland, Montclair, Grand Terrace and its
next-door neighbor Fontana, which did the same in July.

No one has tried to open a medical-marijuana facility in Rialto yet.

The moratorium, which requires four votes on the five-member council,
would go last 45 days while the city studies its options. The ban
would go into effect immediately. In 1996, voters passed Proposition
215, which made the use of marijuana for medical purposes legal. But
federal law doesn't allow the use of marijuana - period.

Police Capt. Raul Martinez said he's worried that if such a facility
opened in Rialto, there would be an increase in crime around it.

If they start opening in Rialto, the federal government might start
showing up, said Councilman Joe Baca Jr., who said he would support a
permanent ban.

Sometimes, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration serves search
warrants or investigates the facilities, said DEA spokeswoman Sarah
Pullen. The possession, distribution and cultivation of marijuana is
illegal under federal law, she said.

Pullen said there have been increases in certain crimes, such as the
sale of marijuana and robberies near the facilities, especially in
Los Angeles, where she is based.

Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes, an attorney with the office of Bruce
Margolin, the director of the Los Angeles branch of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said she barely
notices the medical-marijuana facilities she drives by.

The voters passed legislation that make medical uses of marijuana
legal, but laws have been enacted to make it difficult for people to
obtain medical marijuana, she said.

"Where are people supposed to go get marijuana when a doctor says
that using this will help you?" she said. "Are they supposed to buy
it illegally on the streets?"

At Wednesday's meeting, which was rescheduled from Tuesday because of
National Night Out festivities, the council is also scheduled to vote
on a project to improve portions of 13 streets in the city.

The streets would be repaved and restriped at a cost of $1,044,698.
Measure I money would cover almost all the costs.