California, Watsonville

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January 9, 2007


Watsonville takes a look at zoning bans on tattoo, pot shops

By Donna Jones
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Santa Cruz Sentinel

WATSONVILLE — You can't get a tattoo in Watsonville. Nor can you buy a bong or score some pot for medicinal purposes.

And you won't be able to any of those things for at least 45 more days if the City Council imposes a moratorium today.

City officials are looking at a comprehensive update of zoning rules, which among other things outlaw tattoo parlors, head shops that sell pot paraphernalia and medical marijuana dispensaries.

But a review of the more than 2-decade-old rules could be several years in the works and that won't be soon enough to answer recent inquiries into what it would take to set up tattoo and pot shops here.

That prompted city staff to ask the council to adopt an emergency 45-day moratorium — one that could and probably would be extended to give officials time to craft new rules.

"Those things have all become more prevalent in many cities, but haven't surfaced here until now so we haven't had to deal with it," said City Manager Carlos Palacios. "Now that it appears there is some interest we have to address it in the zoning codes"

Just because there's no place to get a tattoo or buy a bong for smoking marijuana doesn't mean there isn't a market in Watsonville.

At Jack's Cigar Store on Main Street, owner Zarko Radich sells products clearly oriented toward tobacco use. Boxes of cigars and packages of loose tobacco line the shelves. Racks of pipes are of the traditional carved wooden variety, not normally associated with pot smoking. Radich, who believes marijuana should be legalized and taxed by government, sells rolling papers that can be used by consumers of tobacco as well as pot. Some of his customers fall in the latter category, but he hasn't started selling products more obviously targeted to that market.

"I send them to Santa Cruz for anything extra," he said, with a chuckle.

Watsonville's northern neighbor does have a more liberal reputation. It's home to several tattoo and head shops and is the only city in Santa Cruz County with a medical marijuana outlet.

Watsonville Councilman Oscar Rios said his city, with its large population of Latinos, is more socially conservative than Santa Cruz, but that doesn't completely explain the lack of similar services here.

"People didn't pay too much attention to Watsonville," Rios said. "They thought 'It's a small little town of farmworkers,' ... so they went to more hip places like Santa Cruz where the students are"

But the city's demographics are changing as hundreds of homes built in the past few years brought in new residents with higher incomes, he said. That's attracting the eye of entrepreneurs.

City officials want to be sure those entrepreneurs don't bring new problems to the city.

In his written report to the council, Community Development Director John Doughty said "unique and potential detrimental impacts of these uses" warrant study before any new applications are approved. He cited, for example, the risk of increased burglaries, illegal drug sales and traffic issues near pot clinics.

Police Chief Terry Medina said his department would be involved in developing new rules.

Contact Donna Jones at djones@santacruzsentinel.com.

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TheKSBWChannel.com

Watsonville Upholds Ban On Pot Clubs, Tattoo Parlors

<span class=postbigbold>City Council Adopts 45-Day Moratorium</span>

POSTED: 6:01 am PST January 10, 2007
UPDATED: 8:59 am PST January 10, 2007

WATSONVILLE, Calif. -- The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to keep medical marijuana clubs and tattoo parlors out of the city for the time being.

Councilmembers decided to adopt a 45-day moratorium after people inquired about opening such businesses.

But Santa Cruz attorney Ben Rice, who represents two medical marijuana dispensaries, said they should be allowed because voters approved them more than 10 years ago.

But local communities -- with the exception of Santa Cruz -- have opted to prohibit pot clubs.

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Watsonville council rejects bid for medical pot dispensary

by Donna Jones, Mercury News
October 24th, 2007


The Watsonville City Council banned the sale of medical marijuana in a 5-1 vote Tuesday, noting that patients have relatively close access to pot dispensaries in Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz is home to two dispensaries that sell medical marijuana to patients taking the drug under Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act. The initiative was passed by California voters in 1996.

But city planning staff recommended against permitting such dispensaries here, saying they could increase crime and create neighborhood problems. Staff also noted the conflict between state and federal law. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency continues to enforce federal drug laws that prohibit marijuana possession, use or sales despite the state statute.

Councilwoman Kimberly Petersen called the conflict "unfortunate."

"I personally would like to see some allowance to consume marijuana under the Compassionate Use Act," she said. "But I don't necessarily want to see dispensaries."

Other council members agreed, saying they didn't want to send a mixed message to youth and that the city's residents could go to Santa Cruz to obtain the drug for medicine.

"Most people have compassion for those in pain, and if (medical marijuana) was the only method of relieving that pain, I'd be tempted to take it," said Councilman Greg Caput.

But Caput said he associated use of pot as medicine with pain caused by cancer, and wondered if medical marijuana could be used for any kind of illness.

"It's up to the doctor and the patient to decide," said John Doughty, community development director, adding that other painkillers are available by prescription.

Councilman Oscar Rios cast the only dissenting vote. Councilman Dale Skillicorn was absent.

Rios compared the prohibition against medical marijuana to historic mistakes, like believing the world was flat or that women shouldn't vote, and called the proposed city ban hypocritical.

"Let's talk about alcohol. Let's talk about cigarettes. That's what's killing people," he said. "For the conservative Watsonville, we have more alcohol outlets than anybody."

No one from the public spoke in favor of the ban, and only three people, all from Santa Cruz, spoke against it.

Speaking on behalf of Valerie Corral, co-founder of Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, attorney Ben Rice urged the council to come up with guidelines that would allow dispensaries to operate. He said many Santa Cruz County residents, have found the drug helpful to treat their illnesses, including Corral who uses marijuana to control seizures. He pointed out that Santa Cruz collects taxes on sales, and such money could be used to fund anti-drug programs.

"The problem is with meth and heroin," he said. "Compared to those other substances, (medical marijuana) is a relatively benign substance.

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Watsonville eyes ban on prescription marijuana sales

by Donna Jones, Santa Cruz Sentinel
October 23rd, 2007


WATSONVILLE — After narrowly permitting body artists to set up shop last month, the City Council today will consider another potentially controversial business — medical marijuana dispensaries.

Staff is recommending a ban, citing problems in other communities with crime, public pot smoking and complaints from neighboring businesses.

But John Doughty, the city's community development director, said the bigger problem is that officials would be forced to issue business licenses or planning permits in conflict with federal drug laws.

"We don't think it's appropriate to put ourselves in a position to have to violate federal law," Doughty said.

Using marijuana as medicine has been legal under state law since 1996 when voters passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act. But while opening the door to prescription pot, the initiative provided few guidelines for implementation, and it put the state into conflict with federal drug laws.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents routinely raid pot dispensaries, and most Central Coast cities prohibit such outlets, either overtly by statute, such as in Marina, or by a zoning exclusion that bans businesses not specifically permitted, such as in Capitola and Monterey, according to the city staff report.

Santa Cruz, which recently lifted a smoking ban in a city park to allow patients to light up at an annual medical marijuana festival, is the exception. The city is home to two dispensaries: Greenway Compassion Inc. and Santa Cruz Patients Collective, both in the city's industrial area near Harvey West Park. No one was available to comment at either dispensary Monday.

But even the famously liberal city has limits, and in 2005 Santa Cruz leaders, worried about the image of its downtown, quickly shut down a pot cooperative that tried to open on Pacific Avenue.

In more socially conservative Watsonville, the staff report suggests residents who want to treat illness with pot can make their purchases in Santa Cruz.

Valerie Corral, cofounder of the Santa Cruz-based collective Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, said the travel puts a strain on the sick. About 20 of the club's 120 members are from the Watsonville area, she said. These are people who are suffering, even dying, and they have to either drive to Santa Cruz, or take public transportation.

If people don't have the access close to home from a legitimate source like a dispensary or WAMM, some will go underground, Corral said.

"The last thing Watsonville needs is to support illicit drug traffic," she said. "Eliminating access to dispensaries where people are much safer ... I don't think they're being sensible"

Watsonville Police Chief Terry Medina said he wasn't directly involved with crafting the city's proposed policy, which was written and researched by the community development department with his input. But he said he's aware of problems elsewhere.

"My reality, whether you're WAMM or the city or the person who believes they need medical marijuana, is that the law came through an initiative process terribly flawed, and measures to try to standardize it and correct it have politically failed," Medina said.

Contact Donna Jones at djones@santacruzsentinel.com.