Public Comments Dominate Meeting on Marijuana Dispensaries

Santa Barbara's Ordinance Committee hears opinions for revising city guidelines, and on the existence of the facilities in general

Ordinance Committee members Grant House, Das Williams and Dale Francisco listen to Scott Stanley, owner of Esau's Cafe, talk about a dispensary that could end up next to his Chapala Street location
Ordinance Committee members Grant House, left, Das Williams and Dale Francisco listen to Scott Stanley, owner of Esau’s Cafe, talk about a dispensary that could end up next to his Chapala Street location. (Lara Cooper / Noozhawk photo)

By Giana Magnoli, Noozhawk Staff Writer | Published on 09.29.2009

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Santa Barbara residents showed up in force once again for an Ordinance Committee meeting Tuesday regarding the city’s marijuana dispensaries.

Unlike a previous meeting, which focused on the locations and operation of Santa Barbara’s dispensaries, most of Tuesday’s public comments questioned or supported the existence of dispensaries in general.

Committee members didn’t have long to discuss next steps, but decided to send some recommendations to the City Council and will meet again in a few weeks. The recommendations include an unspecified cap and shortened deadline — down to six months from the revised ordinance’s adoption — for nonconforming dispensaries to follow ordinance guidelines.

The cap could be approached citywide or area by area, but the committee suggested more research before making a decision.

The community has little experience with dispensaries that are legal under both city and state law, with only one is in operation. It’s difficult to determine how well the regulations work, and to what extent dispensaries negatively affect the community — if at all — committee member and Councilman Grant House said.

During 90 minutes of public comment, residents discussed ideas for revising the city ordinance, as well as opinions on the existence of dispensaries in Santa Barbara.

Misusing marijuana is a big concern among residents, but there isn’t much information available on how big a role dispensaries play in recreational and underage marijuana use.

The use of medicinal marijuana isn’t recognized in the public school system, and police have both formally and informally cited many students for possession or use on campus, according to Armando Martel of the Santa Barbara Police Department.

The Santa Barbara School Districts have reported 178 suspensions from controlled substances, most from marijuana.

Superintendent Brian Sarvis told the committee Tuesday that one student told him the substance was so easy to get that it may as well be in the school vending machines, adding that Martel doesn’t think those cases have been traced back to dispensaries.

David Hughes spoke on behalf of the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara and said the group requests a prohibition of dispensaries near residential zones and special-needs facilities, such as sober-living complexes.

State law bans smoking medical marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, recreation center or youth center. Although dispensaries don’t allow smoking or consuming on-site, there’s an anomaly in enforcement if the locations are within that 1,000-foot boundary — as many are, he said.

Residents also have expressed concern with dispensaries near residential areas, especially the pending dispensary at Paseo Chapala.

Esau’s Café would be next door to the dispensary if approved, and owner Scott Stanley said he’s used to controversial locations. At the restaurant’s State Street location, its neighbor was an adult book store. But he said personal beliefs shouldn’t govern business practices as long as they are safe.

“Who are we to dictate who’s in business?” he said.

Dispensary owners attended Tuesday’s meeting, too, and expressed concern that a strict cap and restrictions would hurt competition.

“We know better than the new dispensaries; we know what to do and have been doing it,” said Heather Poet, whose family has operated the nonprofit SB Patients Group collective for eight years. “We’re very proud to provide an herb for those who are sick and dying.”

SB Patients Group is one of the nonconforming dispensaries because its location is illegal under the current ordinance, although it complies with operational requirements.

Like other nonconforming dispensaries, it has to conform to the ordinance’s standards or shut down by a predetermined date — which most likely would change during revision proceedings.

Because of the lengthy public comment period, the Ordinance Committee will meet again to discuss revisions.

Senior planner Danny Kato has updated the dispensary ordinance Web site to include further information such as the Citizen Proposed Ordinance, white papers and new maps showing current and possible location regulations.

— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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» AB390 on 09.30.09 @ 06:18 AM

Marijuana should be legal not only for medical patients but for all adults who prefer it as a healthier alternative to alcohol.

Join the movement to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana for adults in California. Visit http://yes390.org


» lola on 09.30.09 @ 07:56 AM

It should be regulated just like alcohol.  Off limits to minors but available to all adults.  If you believe this go to this web site and let your representative in Sacramento know it.
http://yes390.org


» Medical marijuana dispensers on 09.30.09 @ 08:11 AM

Actually pretend to be heroes…while raking in the bucks. I say tax the %^&$ out of it.


» CRB, Santa Barbara on 09.30.09 @ 08:28 AM

I agree that it should be legalized AND taxed, just as alcohol and tobacco. I strongly oppose the proliferation of these medical (what a joke!) marijuana dispensaries around town. It makes a joke of the real needs by real patients and of the law—- and of the city council that permits them.


» Sandy in SB on 09.30.09 @ 08:51 AM

I’m not sure if these guys understand the implications of a new “medical marijuana” facility at Paseo Chapala, or anywhere else in SB.  I love the new Esau’s and I also love Silvergreens.  Cool places, great food!  I and my kids eat at both regularly.  If a new medical marijuana facility goes in next door to any of the places I frequent, I’ll go elsewhere to eat or do my shopping.  I’m trying to keep my kids away from the drugs and addictions of this world.

That is just the way it will be.  Choose carefully your neighbors…... we don’t need any more “drug” stores like this in SB, there are already too many.

Sandy


» Goleta Gal on 09.30.09 @ 09:17 AM

Why can’t CVS dispense it? I think the City Planners just want to make money off of approving everyone and then only allowing a few to operate. We don’t need dispensaries all over town. How many people really “MEDICALLY NEED” marijuana anyhow? If there’s such a great need then it should be available at pharmacies or at the hospital.


» Richard Cabeza on 09.30.09 @ 10:14 AM

So if I’m undergoing chemotherapy for cancer and my doctor prescribes medical marijuana to ease the nausea, I can’t smoke it if I live within 1,000 feet of a school?

So I’d have to move out of the house I’ve lived in for the last 40 years?

How ridiculous is that?


» wake up SB on 09.30.09 @ 10:19 AM

Sandy, do you also avoid shopping centers and eateries that are close to liquor stores?  Perhaps a better method to protect your kids would be education about the addictions of this world so they can grow up and make smart decisions, rather than sheltering them from legal establishments.  Haven’t you noticed that fear-mongering parents often end up with the most troubled and addicted children?

This controversy over the legalization of dispensaries is similar to the age of prohibition, when our government finally got smart and legalized alcohol sales only after realizing how much revenue they were losing by forcing alcohol into black markets.

Wake up City Council! Allow a limited number of dispensaries for the many many locals who have legitimate medical marijuana prescriptions, and enjoy the tax revenue they provide to our struggling budget!


» Non User on 09.30.09 @ 10:27 AM

Relatively few ‘teen’ or young users (as a percentage) utilize the dispensaries as the prices are higher than the “street”.  As more inclusive and complete decriminalization in the next few years (maybe sooner) is imminent for many reasons (amongst which is valid medical use, recreational use, taxation, relative harmlessness), it would be wise to employ forward thinking decisions that would benefit all.  More dispensaries with fair, clear and reasonable rules will foster competition which ultimately lowers exploitation and cost for everyone. 

Non-User


» San Roque Resident on 09.30.09 @ 12:29 PM

For a city of just 95,000 people, just how many people do we have who are terminally
ill, on chemo that can’t be assuaged any other way, or on untreatable glaucoma?

With strict state guidelines on doctors for issuing a “Special Need for Marijuana” letters,
why is the City issuing so many permits for Medical Dispensaries for pot?

Obviously, pot does help many people who do suffer with certain conditions not easily
or cheaply treated otherwise. So those who really need it should be able to get it.

On the other hand, it seems like the push for a legal “supply” is getting way, way out
of whack with probable medicinal “demand”. Why?


» realkeep on 09.30.09 @ 01:42 PM

Thanks for the Econ 101 review.  If you had, however, listened to the school district officials and school principals, you’d realize that the insanely easy and seemingly (to some) legitimate access via the dispensaries has trumped the street dealer, regardless of price.  Nearly all of the kids busted for pot at school had dispensary cards on them or told the officials that their pot came from those facilities.  You may be right, decriminalization may be on the way, but it needs to happen at the Federal level.  In the meantime, we should adhere to the spirit with which the initiative was passed which was compassion for those in real medical need, not the need to get “baked”.  Our current situation is a bad joke, and our schools and neighborhoods are paying the price.


» open mind on 09.30.09 @ 08:46 PM

Wake up SB, you hit the nail right on the head.

I’m curious to know how many people commenting on this subject have actually read the current ordinance.

Anyway, if your concern is that too many people have easy access to this drug via a recommendation from their doctor, then go after the unethical doctors who set up shop in a hotel room and hand them out for $100.


» no, 'go back to sleep SB' is his real name on 10.01.09 @ 07:11 AM

‘Wake up SB’, how dare you pick on Sandy and tell her how to raise her child. She’s concerned, and she is right to be so. I get so tired of pro-marijuana people pushing this on us, and telling the parents ‘if you’d just educate your child’...you should not be pushing anything on anyone that seeks to increase parental burden.

You clearly don’t understand parenting at all.

There are too many dispensaries here. We’re at 15, with 5 more in the pipeline. The seriously ill patient / dispensary ratio is just about 1:1 at this point. We have a higher per capita ratio of dispensaries than LA. That’s ridiculous.

If you attended this hearing, you know kids are getting access to it. That’s bad.

Shut ‘em down and figure out a new model since dispensaries aren’t even legal under state law.


» YOU PEOPLE ARE SO PATHETIC on 10.02.09 @ 10:32 PM

Always looking to Big Brother government to protect you and provide you a sheltered existence.  Ever heard of taking ownership of your own life and making your own personal choices?  Oh, that’s right, nobody does that anymore since everyone is now a victim of some sort.

GROW UP !


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