Pubdate: Tue, 07 May 2013
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Bob Egelko

MARIJUANA DISPENSARY BAN OKD

Local Governments' Authority to Regulate Land Use Upheld

Seventeen years after California became the first state to legalize 
the medical use of marijuana, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday 
that cities can ban pot dispensaries, preserving a system in which 
some patients can find their supplies nearby while others have to 
travel or grow their own.

The court said the bans are part of local governments' authority to 
regulate land use and do not conflict with Californians' right to 
possess marijuana for medical use.

The 1996 ballot measure that legalized medical cannabis, and 2004 
legislation that authorized nonprofit collectives and I.D. cards, 
have protected patients from arrest but have not established "a 
comprehensive state system of legalized medical marijuana, or ... a 
'right' of convenient access," said Justice Marvin Baxter in the 
unanimous decision.

More than 200 local governments, and more than 20 in the Bay Area, 
prohibit the dispensaries within their borders, while others such as 
San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose issue permits for medical 
marijuana distribution. The ruling could lead to further bans by 
cities that had imposed temporary moratoriums while awaiting court 
clarification.

On the other hand, it could prompt the Legislature, which has largely 
left regulation of medical marijuana to local governments, to impose 
statewide rules that would either encourage or require cities to 
allow some type of storefront distribution.

The current system "leaves a lot of patients without access," said 
Amanda Reiman of the Drug Policy Alliance. "We hope this (ruling) 
will be a sign to the state that it's time to pass medical marijuana 
regulation."

The bans require many medical marijuana consumers to travel long 
distances to find a legal distributor or to resort to the illegal 
market, said Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, 
which spent part of the day lobbying the Legislature.

One pending bill, AB473 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, 
would establish an agency to enact statewide rules on how medical 
marijuana is produced and distributed.

The measure, which has cleared its first committee, is intended to 
"make localities more open to allowing dispensaries," Ammiano said 
Monday. But he said a future bill might be needed to "ensure that 
patients have access to medical cannabis wherever they live."

Thomas Brown, a lawyer for the League of California Cities in 
Monday's case, said the organization would oppose "any bill that 
doesn't respect the concept of home rule."

It was the second major ruling to limit the scope of the 1996 
initiative, which allowed individuals to use marijuana with a 
doctor's recommendation but did not specify their rights in other 
settings. The state court in 2008 allowed employers to fire workers 
who tested positive for marijuana that they had used for medical 
reasons outside the workplace, even if it did not affect their performance.

Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, have shut down hundreds of marijuana 
dispensaries in the state by threatening to prosecute their landlords.

Monday's case came from Riverside, where a medical marijuana 
collective challenged the city's ban.
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