Pubdate: Thu, 09 Oct 2014
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2014 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/5QwXAJWY
Website: http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Authors: Fran Spielman and Becky Schlikerman
Page: 13

COUNCIL WANTS POT SHOPS SECURE, DISCREET

Strip Club Owner's Proposed Dispensary a Hot Topic

Chicago's medical marijuana cultivation centers and dispensaries 
would be required to hire around-the-clock security guards and load 
and unload pot out of public view, under a preemptive crackdown 
proposed at Wednesday's City Council meeting.

Even before the growing and selling is up and running, Finance 
Committee Chairman Edward Burke ( 14th) and Zoning Committee Chairman 
Danny Solis ( 25th) want safeguards in place to protect the public.

"We want to make absolutely sure these products are properly 
protected and that these cannabis-infused products are not out in 
public view," Burke was quoted as saying in a press release.

Solis said dispensaries and cultivation centers would have to 
demonstrate compliance before being granted a special-use permit by 
the Zoning Board of Appeals needed to set up shop.

Chris Lindsey, a policy analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, 
said the state has imposed tight rules already.

"The program isn't even up and running, so it is premature to impose 
further restrictions on what is already one of the most heavily 
regulated programs in the country," Lindsey said. "We would hope the 
alderman isn't simply trying to impose so many restrictions that they 
amount to a ban, particularly when voters and the legislature clearly 
want to provide reasonable access."

Meanwhile, the owner of a notorious Chicago strip club seeking to get 
into the medical marijuana industry in Chicago was much discussed Wednesday.

At City Hall, the chairman of the council's Zoning Committee 
questioned whether Perry Mandera - a man whose trucking company lost 
a sexual harassment lawsuit-is fit to open a medical marijuana 
dispensary in the Fulton Market area.

Solis said he would follow the longstanding City Council tradition of 
"aldermanic prerogative" on zoning issues and "defer" to Ald. Walter 
Burnett ( 27th), whose ward includes the vacant building at 1105 W. 
Fulton, where Mandera wants to open a dispensary catering to military veterans.

But Solis said he would reject Mandera's application if it were his own ward.

Burnett refused to comment on the cloud hanging over Mandera. The 
alderman said he would await community hearings before deciding 
whether to support the strip club owner's application for a medical 
marijuana dispensary license.

Mandera declined to comment after the meeting.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom