Pubdate: Thu, 09 May 2013 Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA) Copyright: 2013 The Press Democrat Contact: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348 STRONG RX FOR OUT-OF-CONTROL POT SALE RULES The California Supreme Court cut through the haze of a 16-year debate about medicinal marijuana and put one important argument to rest. The court found that, yes, cities and counties have the authority to regulate pot dispensaries even if it means banning them outright. The high court went one step further. It validated the authority of local governments to make most decisions about what happens within their borders, noting that the state's ability to preempt that authority "is not lightly presumed." The unanimous decision affirms efforts in areas such as unincorporated Sonoma County and Santa Rosa that have established clear limits on the operation of dispensaries. The ruling also upholds all-out bans in Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Healdsburg and some 190 other jurisdictions in the state. "While some counties and cities might consider themselves well suited to accommodating medical marijuana dispensaries, conditions in other communities might lead to the reasonable decision that such facilities . would present unacceptable local risks and burdens," Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote for the court. It's strong medicine, but it's the remedy that local governments needed to make sense of a dysfunctional system left in the aftermath of Proposition 215, the voter-approved 1996 initiative that authorized the cultivation and use of cannabis for medical purposes. The alternative was to disallow local controls, which potentially would lead to the proliferation of cannabis cooperatives, as has occurred in some areas. Los Angeles, which currently has no limits despite efforts to establish them, has more than 700 dispensaries. While voters clearly supported the right of access to medicinal marijuana, it's hard to argue they intended that to be an absolute right. That's why cities and counties are obliged to establish boundaries, prohibiting sales, for example, within 500 feet of schools and parks, as is the rule in Santa Rosa. So far, the limits in Sonoma County have been reasonable. Last year, the county set a cap of nine marijuana dispensaries. Currently there are two dispensaries in Santa Rosa, one in Cotati and one in Sebastopol. While this ruling provides some needed clarity, it's no resolution. Although it grants local jurisdictions great leeway in regulating dispensaries, greater consistency is needed in what those regulations should be. This is where the Legislature should step in with some uniform guidelines in such areas as how large dispensaries can be, how and where marijuana can be grown and how medical marijuana cards are issued. Meanwhile, the cultivation and sale of marijuana for any purpose remains a violation of federal law, which continues to expose dispensaries to raids, regardless of their compliance with state and local laws. Nothing in this ruling is going to provide clarity in that area. Success will come the day that the rules for buying medicinal marijuana are consistent, that the issuance of medicinal marijuana cards is closely enforced and federal authorities acknowledge that the ability to trump state law concerning pot sales "is not lightly presumed." But that's not today. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt