California, Healdsburg

[palmspringsbum]

Council backs off banning pot clubs
Worry about lawsuits from marijuana advocates spurs delay in decision

By CLARK MASON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Healdsburg's City Council was poised Monday to make the city the first in Sonoma County to ban medical marijuana dispensaries but backed off for fear it would trigger a costly legal fight with advocates.

Fearing crime and other problems a medical marijuana outlet could bring, council members said they were inclined to ban the dispensaries.

"The town is too small. There isn't an area you could put it in, where it wouldn't affect citizens," said Councilwoman Lisa Schaffner.

"If it's truly medicine, it should be dispensed like a pharmacy," she said.

"I would support an all-out ban," said Councilman Gary Plass. "But my biggest fear is a lawsuit."

In the end, council members decided to revisit the issue in June, noting a one-year moratorium they passed against marijuana clubs won't expire until August.

Healdsburg, like all other cities in the county, other than Cloverdale, last year passed a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana outlets.

Both the county Board of Supervisors and the Sebastopol City Council have meetings scheduled today to consider the issue of regulating marijuana outlets and whether to extend their temporary bans.

Local governments say they want to avoid problems and complaints that have plagued some medical marijuana outlets, including smoking around the dispensaries, illegal sales and robberies.

The governments are wrestling with conflicting legal issues brought on by a state law enacted by voters 10 years ago that allowed the use and cultivation for medical purposes. But federal law prohibits it, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year the federal government has the authority to prohibit local cultivation and use of marijuana.

A number of cities in California, including Concord, Susanville, Fresno and Pasadena, have been sued for banning medical marijuana dispensaries.

Medical marijuana advocates say the Compassionate Use Act passed by voters preempts local law and cities cannot interfere with distribution of medical marijuana.

Santa Rosa last year became the first city in Sonoma County to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries. The City Council decided to allow dispensaries - but only two serving no more than 500 customers each, per month - something marijuana advocates complained was too restrictive.

The Santa Rosa ordinance also limits where and when dispensaries may operate, requires criminal background checks for employees and prohibits smoking on the property.

There are four known medical marijuana dispensaries in Sonoma County: In Guerneville, south of Santa Rosa city limits on Santa Rosa Avenue, on Montgomery Drive in east Santa Rosa and in southwest Santa Rosa off Dutton Avenue.

Medical marijuana advocates say they prefer some type of regulation of the clubs.

"The more above-board it gets, the better," said Doc Knapp, a spokesman for the Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana. "The more underground it is, the less easy it is to control for law enforcement and patient health and safety - the quality of the marijuana. It helps everybody to have regulations."