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City’s Medical Marijuana Ordinance to Get a Fresh Look
The new Santa Barbara City Council and Ordinance Committee will join the city’s debate over medical marijuana on Tuesday.
The ordinance revision process will return to the dais — but to new eyes — after heading to the Planning Commission late last year.
Of the former Ordinance Committee members, only Councilman Grant House remains with Councilmen Das Williams and Dale Francisco moving to the Finance Committee. House will be joined by Councilman Bendy White — who addressed the issue as a planning commissioner last year — and Councilman Frank Hotchkiss.
The process to date has taken about six months, and new perspectives could push back the revisions.
The legality of medicinal marijuana is difficult to navigate for municipalities, and the language alone can be confusing.
For-profit storefront businesses are considered dispensaries, and are considered illegal statewide. Collectives are legal under state law, including Proposition 215 and Senate Bill 420, and involve patient-provided inventory and a nonprofit model. Some storefront collectives could be considered legal.
After months of discussion, the Ordinance Committee crafted recommendations for the new ordinance, including a citywide cap of seven exclusionary zones around schools and recovery areas such as Casa Esperanza. Increased security and operational requirements include yearly reviews by police and the city Planning Department’s staff hearing officer.
After the public’s negative reaction to The Farmacy, which was scheduled to go in the ground floor of Paseo Chapala, the committee suggested banning the shops from existing mixed-use buildings.
The Planning Commission suggested a lower cap and agreed with the need for exclusionary areas.
The city passed a moratorium — or suspension ordinance — in December regarding dispensaries, and the City Council will vote on extending the moratorium on Tuesday. There are three permitted storefronts that made it through the approval process before the moratorium.
Santa Barbara County also passed a moratorium last week, and can extend it to two years.
Medical marijuana dispensaries are banned in every other jurisdiction in the county as well as in the city of Ventura.
The Ordinance Committee will hold a hearing on the issue at noon Tuesday in the Council Chambers, followed by a 2 p.m. City Council meeting, at City Hall, 735 Anacapa St.
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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» on 01.26.10 @ 12:15 PM
Open Letter to City Council:
Municipalities are not mandated to allow dispensaries or collectives to meet the requirements of Prop 215. People don’t need more access to more drugs. We have more problems than we know what to do with already. We don’t need one more.
It’s time for the city council members to tell us why they are advocating for drug addiction in our community rather than children, schools and neighborhoods. Why?
Say no to dispensaries. Say no to legalization. This is not a time to be politically correct. There’s too much at stake.
» on 01.26.10 @ 01:27 PM
Dear Parent:
Please tell me what medications you take on a regular basis that aren’t addictive - please include nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, celexa, effexor, elavil, fluuoxetine, lexapro,paxil,prozac, remeron, wellbrutin, zoloft,carisoprodol, cyclobenzaprine, flexeril, flextra D5, skelaxin, soma, zanaflex, buspar, butalbiltal, fioricet, motrin, tramadol, ultracet, ultram, and so many more I can’t list.
All of these are NOT easily obtainable except from your local pharmacy with a physician’s prescription. They are all for some particular disease - kinda like medical marijuana.
No one seems to care how many pharmacies there are - or where they are. Children are even able to peruse the aisles without any supervision at all.
Do you realize how many addictive substances there are in those aisles?
You can’t get into a dispensary without legal state papers. Children can never get in.
You need to realize that legal pot has nothing to do with you - it has nothing to do with your children.
It’s for ADULTS who choose to use a NON-PHARMACEUTICALLY produced product that’s been around for thousands of years.
You are politicizing this issue with your silly notion and rhetoric that is full of emotional hype.
A new drug is introduced hourly by the drug industry (People don’t need more access to more drugs.) and rubber stamped by the FDA. Many of these new drugs are helpful, most are recalled within 180 days.
The side effects are unbelievable - some can even kill you!
The side effects of marijuana are so minimal that most “educated” people don’t consider it as anything at all.
Get your facts straight!
BTW, “A Parent” - why not come from behind your apparent mask and use your name - unless you are ashamed of what you wrote.
» on 01.26.10 @ 01:40 PM
Move On…patients have a legal right in California to safe access to their medicine. Period.
The City Council should be applauded for making a sobering and serious effort to balance the needs of all members of our community.
I’m an advocate for safe access and the hysterical claims that opponents use against local dispenseries are NOT TRUE. Not once have I ever witnessed loitering teens, vandalism, crime, or any other negative abuses. These are serious businesses with serious clienteles.
I don’t see these “concerned parents” decrying the fact that there’s a liqour store on every corner in this town! Tobacco and alcohol are the REAL KILLERS…wake up!
» on 01.26.10 @ 03:52 PM
>>“Not once have I ever witnessed loitering teens, vandalism, crime, or any other negative abuses.”
I have. Plenty of times.
>>“These are serious businesses with serious clienteles.”
Oh, please.
» on 01.26.10 @ 05:50 PM
Which dispensaries have the best prices for 1/8 and 1/4 ounces?
» on 01.26.10 @ 07:58 PM
As the Executive Director for Beverly Hills NORML90210.org, cancer survivor and legal cannabis patient, I am filled with mixed emotions about this ordinance. I am the first person to stand up for the rights of patients, however, there have obviously been some people in Los Angeles abusing the system. Each day we receive hundreds of emails and phone calls asking for guidance on the latest regulations. The legal system is confusing at best. Recently I testified before City Council to clarify the need for CLEAR, CONCISE and CONSISTENT legislation. In my personal life, I am faced with serious health issues that could cost my life due to my inability to qualify for a liver transplant. Does it matter that I have never smoked a cigarette or done drugs of any kind in my life? Apparently not. I used legal medicinal cannabis during my cancer treatment. While cannabis has saved my life thus far, prohibiting the growth, spread and metastisizing of the tumors throughout my system, I recently learned that the mere fact that I used Cannabis as an alternative health treatment could disqualify me for a life-saving organ transplant. My hope and prayers are that the cannabis medicine that I use daily will keep me alive until the laws can change. I am not alone. Patients like me die each and every day, but the mainstream media does not report that news. At what point will the general public and mainstream media care about this injustice? Meanwhile, I hope that others will join me in the fight for clarification and legalization for medicinal cannabis and the responsible adult use of marijuana.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Shuman
Executive Director
Beverly Hills NORML90210.org
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
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