Pubdate: Mon, 21 Oct 2013
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Nigel Duara, The Associated Press
Page: B9

SOME OREGON CITIES TO FIGHT MEDICAL-POT DISPENSARIES

PORTLAND (AP) - Oregon officials are only months away from accepting
applications for the state's first medical-marijuana dispensaries
under a new law.

But local leaders who want to keep pot shops out of their communities
are ready for a fight.

In Myrtle Creek, the police chief and mayor both oppose dispensaries
within city limits. And in Medford, the City Council made a rule
change to say that business licenses could be revoked for violating
the federal prohibition on the drug. There's no way "to prevent the
wholesale distribution of marijuana through dispensaries," said
Medford City Councilman Chris Corcoran.

Marijuana activists, who support the law signed by Gov. John Kitzhaber
in August, say plans to ban dispensaries run contrary to legislative
intent - though they realize local authorities will likely have the
final say.

"There will be dry counties," said Allen St. Pierre, executive
director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws. "If they don't want people to have retail access to marijuana or
massive production of it, there is almost no doubt that no cities or
towns can be forced to go that route."

Oregon law has allowed for medical marijuana since 1998, but there has
been a catch for patients: They could legally possess the drug, but
they had to find their own producer or grow it themselves - or resort
to the black market.

Marijuana advocates pitched the dispensary law as a course correction.
The pot shops, they said, provide safe access for patients and create
a viable system of reimbursement to the growers and a more accurate
market for marijuana prices by taking pot out of the hands of illicit
dealers.

Oregon voters rejected dispensaries in 2010, but legislators passed a
bill this year and set in motion a nine-month review process during
which the laws implementing the dispensaries would be determined by a
committee that includes law enforcement, marijuana advocates,
botanists and legislators. In less than five months, applications are
set to start coming in.

Cities and counties have at least two options to keep dispensaries
out. Like Medford, they can choose not to issue business licenses to
dispensaries. Or they can take the matter to federal court, where pot
is considered a prohibited substance.

A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in 2012 sympathized with
patients who say they need marijuana but ultimately sided with the
federal government's prohibition. In that case, a group of California
plaintiffs alleged that the cities of Costa Mesa and Lake Forest
violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by taking steps to close
dispensaries.

"We recognize that the plaintiffs are gravely ill, and that their
request for (Disabilities Act) relief implicates not only their right
to live comfortably, but also their basic human dignity," wrote Judge
Raymond C. Fisher. "(However,) federal law does not authorize the
plaintiffs' medical marijuana use."

Rep. Peter Buckley, DAshland, who shepherded the law through the
Legislature, said the Oregon Health Authority has final say over the
dispensaries, not the cities and counties in which they're based.

His advice to cities taking action to oppose dispensaries: "Take a
deep breath and work on the rule-making process, and then see what you
think about it."

But the man who oversees the state's pharmaceutical-drug programs -
and the committee charged with making the dispensary laws - said
cities can set their own rules.

"I would assume that a city is going to have existing law," said Tom
Burns of the Oregon Health Authority, "and that city will do what that
city wants."
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MAP posted-by: Matt