Pubdate: Mon, 02 Jul 2012
Source: Tribune, The (San Luis Obispo, CA)
Copyright: 2012 The Tribune
Contact:  http://www.sanluisobispo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/391
Author: Bob Cuddy

'GRAY' MARKET IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA CRITICIZED BY SLO COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY

Civil Grand Jury Says County Has Done Little to Regulate Rise in 
Mobile Dispensaries

San Luis Obispo County has effectively stopped "brick and mortar" 
medical marijuana dispensaries from operating locally, but it has 
done little to regulate the mobile services that sprang up to deliver 
the medication to suffering patients, according to a civil grand jury report.

The "unknown number" of mobile delivery services has "created a 
'gray' market the local government is ignoring," according to the 
report. Grand jurors said one informant told them the number may be 
as high as 40.

What little regulation exists is "subjective and inconsistent," the 
San Luis Obispo County civil grand jury wrote in the report released last week.

Because nobody can guarantee the safety of the delivered product, the 
well-being of patients who receive this medication is at risk, the 
grand jury wrote.

It recommended "well-defined and governmental regulation and 
oversight" to get a handle on the problem, beginning with a committee 
that would create a "fair and viable local ordinance for 
brick-and-mortar medical marijuana collectives."

Grand jury recommendations are not binding.

In their report, grand jurors stressed that they are not "advocating 
the use of marijuana in any form."

The grand jury made note of the conflict between state and federal 
law regarding medical marijuana, and the confusion that has resulted 
and trickled down to the local level.

In San Luis Obispo County, jurors noted, there is an ordinance 
approved in 2007 that would in theory allow a medical marijuana 
dispensary to open and serve patients.

But applicants have tried three times to open such a business in the 
past five years, and each time they have been shot down as a result 
of neighborhood opposition.

While those clinics have not opened, hundreds of people in the county 
are suffering and are legally entitled to use medical marijuana as a treatment.

Those folks have increasingly turned to the delivery services.

The grand jury's report essentially brings into the county a plea 
that has been made at the state level by the Attorney General's 
Office - the need to bring "certainty and consistency" to law 
enforcement, the collectives, and patients.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom