Pubdate: Wed, 21 Dec 2011
Source: Marysville Globe, The (WA)
Copyright: 2011 Sound Publishing, Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/WIGwFPwc
Website: http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/north_sound/mar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1288
Author: Kirk Boxleitner, Marysville Globe Reporter 

MARYSVILLE CITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MARIJUANA MORATORIUM

MARYSVILLE - A trio of personal testimonies as to the benefits of 
medical marijuana was met with interest by the Marysville City Council 
on Dec. 12, as two citizens of Marysville and one from Lake Stevens 
urged them to allow the city's moratorium on medical marijuana 
dispensaries to expire on Jan. 5 of next year.

Nonetheless, the Council voted unanimously to extend the moratorium 
into June of 2012, after Marysville City Attorney Grant Weed warned of 
potential confusion in interpreting the existing laws regulating 
medical marijuana, as well as conflicts that could arise between 
municipal, state and federal laws on the subject.

"There are several moving parts to the law which have yet to be 
resolved," Weed said. "The provisions have become more vague, and the 
state Legislature is interested in clarifying them. The federal 
Controlled Substances Act is still in effect, under which marijuana is 
deemed to have no medical value, and its use, possession and sale 
remain illegal, which preempts any state law. The law is anything but settled."

After city of Marysville Chief Administrative Officer Gloria Hirashima 
noted that the city of Marysville has been discussing zoning responses 
with the cities of Arlington and Lake Stevens, which are also 
considering such an alternative, Lake Stevens resident Laura Healy 
spoke to the Council about the collective garden that she's operated 
for the past two years in Shoreline.

"We want to be regulated rather than eliminated," said Healy, who'd 
previously spoken to the Council in July of this year, just before 
they imposed the initial six-month moratorium. "Our patients need safe 
access to their medicine. We don't want them to have to call somebody 
up and pick it up in a parking lot out in the open. The public 
shouldn't have to see it."

When asked by Council member Michael Stevens, Healy elaborated that 
such co-ops follow self-imposed boundaries, such as not establishing 
locations within 1,000 feet of schools or day care establishments, 
because they respect the right of parents to shield their children 
from what may be a taboo subject to many families. Council member 
Carmen Rasmussen requested copies of the ordinances of cities such as 
Shoreline and Mukilteo, which Healy cited as balancing the needs of 
medical marijuana dispensaries with their surrounding communities. 
Healy promised to send those to Hirashima for city of Marysville staff 
to study.

Marysville resident Joanna Kasner followed Healy by recounting the 
centuries of historic precedent for legal medical marijuana usage, 
before sharing how medical marijuana had given her back a part of her 
life that she'd thought she'd lost after a physical assault left her 
unable to function without narcotics.

"It damaged my lower back, my shoulders and my knees," Kasner said. "I 
lost my job as a long-haul trucker. Medical marijuana minimized the 
side-effects I'd experienced with opiates, and the people at the 
dispensaries have treated me with respect and kindness."

Marysville's Lonnie Smith is a 58-year-old fibromyalgia sufferer who's 
also coping with a hernia, and she touted medical marijuana's "instant 
results" without any side-effects.

"I'm not laid out in bed with chronic pain," Smith said. "I just want 
safe access to my medicine. Please don't make me go out on the streets 
to get it."

Weed's final advice to the Council that evening noted that, regardless 
of state laws, the city could potentially be charged with aiding and 
abetting violations of the Controlled Substances Act under federal law 
if it allowed such dispensaries within city limits.
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.