City pushes for nonprofit medical marijuana cooperatives

After three and a half hours of impassioned discussion, the city council voted unanimously to have a committee tackle the difficult task of crafting laws that jibe with recently released guidelines from the attorney general’s office outlining exactly what should be considered a legal medical marijuana operation.

City officials had a bit more difficulty when discussing a proposed moratorium on new and pending applications for dispensaries, but ultimately agreed on a 4-1 vote to consider the concept at a future hearing.

“We’ve sort of let the cart go before the horse,” City Councilmember Iya Falcone said in expressing her strong support for such a moratorium. “We’ve been playing catch-up ever since. It’s time to stop. It’s just time to stop right now and take a breath.”

A shift toward the nonprofit collective model appears to be largely in step with state guidelines, a fact that nobody on the council disputed. How to reach that model is a more difficult task, particularly given the constantly changing legal landscape surrounding medical marijuana and the difficulty of spelling out the precise definition of a collective.

... Santa Barbara School Districts Superintendent Brian Sarvis, said storefront dispensaries are too much of a risk, particularly when they are located near schools or areas where children congregate.
“It sends the wrong message to our kids,” he said. “Too many of our kids show up high or with marijuana to sell. And yes, they tell us they get it at the dispensary.”

Local leaders have been struggling with how to ensure legitimate patients receive medical marijuana while still protecting neighborhoods from negative impacts for several years. A set of regulations went into effect last year, but city officials continued to receive complaints about the proliferation of new dispensaries.


... city leaders... agreed that... stricter regulations should move forward as quickly as possible...

“We might as well finish the improvements we’ve made to regulate the existing approved [dispensaries],” Councilmember Dale Francisco said. “I don’t see a problem with that.”

... Councilmember Das Williams said... stricter regulations should address a significant number of community concerns about medical marijuana operations — through enhanced security requirements, a limit of one shop in each of seven designated geographical areas, and a shortened timeframe for nonconforming dispensaries to come into compliance or shut down."

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Labels: city of santa barbara, marijuana