Pubdate: Fri, 12 Mar 2010
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Page: 1B
Copyright: 2010 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Author: Peter Hecht
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

SACRAMENTO MULLS PLAN TO CAP MEDICAL POT DISPENSARIES AT 12

Sacramento officials Thursday night presented a plan to cap the 
number of marijuana dispensaries in the city at a dozen and impose 
strict requirements for their operations.

Faced with a packed room of pot shop owners and medical marijuana 
advocates, City Manager Gus Vina asked for measured input on "an 
emotional issue."

But representatives for marijuana patients and many of the city's 39 
registered dispensaries threatened lawsuits. They charged the plan 
would shutter tax-producing businesses and deny care to hundreds of 
cannabis patients.

"This proposal would kill myself and other patients in similar 
situations," complained Ryan Landers, a Sacramento senior adviser for 
the Compassionate Coalition, a medical marijuana advocacy group. 
"You're going to close clubs where hundreds of patients get 
marijuana. This is a huge problem for the sick."

Landers, whose neck was bandaged on both sides from pain shots he 
takes for shingles, told city officials he was one of the architects 
of the 1996 Proposition 215 medical marijuana law.

He said the city plan amounted to Sacramento turning its back on 
people who should be protected under Proposition 215.

But Vina said Sacramento is trying to accommodate patients and 
communities. "There are a handful of cities that are trying to do 
something. And we're one of them," Vina said.

Robert Shantz, a lawyer for a dispensary association, the Sacramento 
Alliance of Collectives, said the city is offering "prohibition 
masquerading as authorization."

The plan includes a lottery to determine which pot shops could stay 
in business. It would require dispensaries to maintain security and 
would ban the hiring of workers with felony convictions.

It also would require pot shops to label their products with a 
disclaimer saying that the dispensary - not the city - assumes "risk 
of injury or harm" from any marijuana sold.

Sonny Kumar, co-founder of the El Camino Wellness Center, complained 
that the ordinance could force virtually every Sacramento pot shop to close.

He cited provisions that would restrict dispensaries to commercial 
and industrial zones and ban clubs within 300 feet of neighborhoods 
or 500 feet of churches, parks, schools, youth facilities or 
substance abuse centers.

"It would result in only three locations where clubs or dispensaries 
would be left in the total city," Kumar said.

Michelle Heppner, a special project manager working on the dispensary 
issue, said Sacramento officials studied Oakland, a city with a 
slightly larger population.

Oakland passed an ordinance allowing only four dispensaries but is 
considering expanding to 14, Heppner said.

Oakland also passed the nation's first special tax - on top of the 
state sales tax - for local medical marijuana sales. The Sacramento 
proposal doesn't include a local taxing plan.

City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond, who chairs a committee that will 
review the proposed ordinance, said she is concerned about 
dispensaries clustering disproportionately in a few city areas, 
including midtown.

She said Sacramento needs to get control of the issue to avoid a 
scenario similar to Los Angeles, where officials grappled over an 
ordinance as hundreds of dispensaries kept opening.

"We don't want to wind up like Los Angeles," she said. "We don't want 
to rush to do this, but we want to be timely."

What's Next?

The Sacramento City Council's Law and Legislation Committee is 
expected to work on the proposed dispensary ordinance in April and 
May. If approved by the City Council, the ordinance could go into 
effect in June or July. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake