California, Pinole

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Posted on Wed, Apr. 05, 2006

Pinole council adds a year to pot club moratorium

By Tom Lochner
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

The Pinole City Council on Tuesday extended a moratorium on the opening of cannabis clubs for an extra year, after the city attorney advised waiting for the tension between federal and state law over marijuana to be resolved. When that might happen is hard to say.

California voters in 1996 approved the medical use of marijuana on the recommendation of a doctor. Federal law classifies marijuana as an illegal drug with no medical use. In 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the federal government can prosecute medical marijuana users and dispensers even if they act in accordance with state law.

A patient advocacy group has sued Concord in a state court after that city's council enacted a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries last year, invoking the federal prohibition. The same group, Americans For Safe Access, has also sued Fresno over what the group considers a virtual ban there on the dispensaries, popularly known as cannabis clubs.

Pinole City Attorney Benjamin Reyes II lamented "a legal dynamic over which we have no control" as he advised the council to extend the moratorium for another year.

The council enacted the first moratorium on an urgency basis in May 2005 and ordered the formation of a task force with "stakeholders" such as a doctor and a patient. Eleven months later, the task force has yet to be formed. Reyes said it has been hard to find a doctor.

"You're really dragging your feet on this," said Don "Buzz" Fowler, a medical marijuana advocate who has urged the council to enact an ordinance regulating cannabis clubs. He told the council it was turning its back on the medical marijuana patients' community, which also votes.

"It has nothing to do with dragging our feet or turning our backs," said Councilman David Cole. He recommended allowing the court cases to play out and cast a moratorium extension as a prudent step to avoid embroiling Pinole in litigation.

"Half a page in a year," Fowler said, brandishing Reyes' written report. "You haven't done anything." State law requires a report describing measures taken to alleviate the condition that led to an urgency moratorium before a council can extend it.

Reyes' report is in fact about three-quarters of a page, part of a two-page staff report.

Tuesday's 5-0 council vote extended Pinole's moratorium to May 2007.

Pinole's moratorium extension came just a day after Albany's city council extended a moratorium in that city for a year. Albany, too, is watching the lawsuits against Concord and Fresno but does not expect resolution anytime soon.

"We won't see an Appellate Court decision for probably a year or more," Albany City Attorney Robert Zweben told his council on Monday.


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Reach Tom Lochner at 510-262-2760 or tlochner@cctimes.com.