Pubdate: Tue, 30 Jul 2013
Source: Bakersfield Californian, The (CA)
Copyright: 2013 The Bakersfield Californian
Contact:  http://www.bakersfield.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/36
Author: Theo Douglas

REFERENDUM ON CITY POT DISPENSARY BAN GOES UP IN SMOKE

Opponents of Bakersfield's new ordinance banning medical marijuana 
dispensaries within city limits failed Monday in their attempt to 
force a referendum on the issue.

The Bakersfield City Council approved the ordinance at its June 26 
meeting and it will take effect Thursday.

Financed by a political action committee calling itself Patients for 
Compassionate Use Policies, organizers had until 5 p.m. Monday to 
collect at least 15,326 signatures from registered Bakersfield voters 
and deliver them to the City Clerk's office.

"No phone calls, no emails. Nothing. I don't think they're going to 
file," said City Clerk Roberta Gafford. "If they've had questions on 
something, although we don't give advice, we have a decent rapport 
with them. The only thing we did agree on was that they would call 
before they turned them in."

Dege Coutee, a spokeswoman for the organizers, did not respond to 
repeated requests for comment.

Turning in the signatures would have stopped the ordinance from 
becoming effective.

The city council then would have had the choice of repealing it or 
putting the issue on a future ballot -- following the footsteps of 
Kern County two years ago.

In September 2011, activists with Kern Citizens For Patient Rights 
gathered 26,335 signatures, forestalling ordinance G-8191 banning 
storefront medical marijuana collectives and the sale of edible 
marijuana products. Kern County voters, however, ended up approving 
strict regulation of dispensaries last year.

The group fighting the county needed to collect at least 17,350 
signatures to stop the ordinance throughout unincorporated areas of 
Kern. This time, gatherers in Bakersfield had to collect 2,024 fewer 
signatures than that.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom