Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jul 2012
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388

CANNABIS CLUBS NEED CLEAR GUIDELINES

San Francisco has 26 storefront cannabis clubs, regulated by planning 
and health codes. Oakland has warehouse-size operations, officially 
encouraged by city leaders as a local industry. Los Angeles, though, 
has been struggling to gain control of its medical marijuana operations.

There are 762 dispensaries with an estimated 200 more selling without 
permits in Los Angeles. According to a city official, the total 
outnumbers Starbucks outlets, a dubious distinction that this week 
pushed the City Council to the breaking point.

By a 14-0 vote, the council ordered all the outlets shut down, siding 
with neighborhood complaints, worries about crime and concerns that 
the businesses are all about recreational drug sales, not the 
delivery of medical marijuana to ailing patients. It's not a total 
banishment, since the council is proposing starting over in several 
months with 70 dispensaries.

The twist is the latest reminder that this state needs to revise its 
loophole-ridden law on medical pot. Voters approved the medical use 
of marijuana in 1996, leaving the details of growing, selling and 
regulating woefully unclear.

This confusion and uncertainty need answers. Sacramento has mostly 
ignored the task of writing better rules. After the U.S. Justice 
Department signaled tolerance, federal attorneys indicated they were 
fed up with abuses and launched raids and asset seizures to close 
scores of outlets. The state Supreme Court may rule next year on 
whether local jurisdictions can ban and regulate dispensaries.

This drift isn't serving anyone well. Neither patients, providers nor 
law enforcement know what to expect or where to go for workable 
answers. Yet 16 other states and the District of Columbia permit 
medical marijuana with nothing like the trouble it's causing in 
California. It's time for a comprehensive answer with clear rules and 
standards, not a haphazard set of decisions.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom