Pubdate: Fri, 23 May 2014
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2014 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters_form.html
Website: http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830

RIVERSIDE AGAIN GROUND ZERO IN MEDICAL POT FIGHT

The national debate over marijuana continues to waft through the city 
of Riverside. A city initiative allowing medical-marijuana 
dispensaries has qualified for the ballot in June 2015. Reported the 
Press-Enterprise, "Riverside, which now bans dispensaries through the 
zoning code, could prove a battleground for medical marijuana 
supporters and opponents."

The city already was ground zero in earlier skirmishes involving 
Proposition 215, which 56 percent of voters passed in 1996. It 
legalized medical marijuana with a doctor's permission. The 
initiative's language specifically said approval would encourage 
federal and state governments "to implement a plan to provide for the 
safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in 
medical need of marijuana."

But that hasn't happened, and cities and counties were left to do 
what they thought best. San Francisco and Santa Cruz have made it 
fairly easy to obtain medical marijuana. In contrast, in 2009, the 
Riverside City Council banned dispensaries. The case went all the way 
to the California Supreme Court, which in 2013 upheld the city's ban. 
City Attorney Greg Priamos "has shut down 81 dispensaries since 
2009," the Press-Enterprise reported.

The new city initiative would mean the "re-legalization of 
dispensaries," Dale Gieringer told us; he's the director of the 
California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of 
Marijuana Laws and was a co-author of Prop. 215. He said the city 
initiative essentially asks, "Do Riverside voters want to have a 
legal dispensary in the city?"

He explained why Prop. 215 itself didn't clarify what cities and 
counties ought to do. "We thought it was a complicated issue that 
deserved attention by the state and federal governments," he said.

The failure of those governments to go along with Prop. 215 is being 
addressed this year in the California Legislature with two pieces of 
legislation. Assembly Bill 1894, by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San 
Francisco, would establish a state regulation system for 
dispensaries, operating out of the Alcoholic Beverages Commission. 
Senate Bill 1262, by Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, originally would 
have put the state Department of Public Health in charge of 
regulation. However, according to a May 16 report by the League of 
Cities, amendments have replaced the DPH with a local-only licensing structure.

Riverside Safe Access, the group that put the initiative on the 2015 
city ballot, is a consortium of collective operators and patients, 
said Lanny Swerdlow, a volunteer coordinator for the group. The 
effort was funded by donations from collectives, patients and other 
interested people," he said. Swerdlow expects a tough but victorious 
fight to pass the initiative.

Our view is that the people of California clearly voted that they 
want, in the wording of Prop. 215, "To ensure that seriously ill 
Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical 
purposes" to treat such ailments as cancer and AIDS.

Since 1996, attitudes on marijuana have eased throughout the country, 
with 20 other states following California's lead in legalizing it for 
medical purposes. And in 2012, voters in Colorado and Washington 
state even legalized pot for recreation.

We hope the California Legislature acts quickly to finally pass 
legislation that clarifies the implementation of Prop. 
215  preferably AB 1894. In any case, we welcome Riverside's 
initiative to clarify local voters' will on medical marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom