SAN DIEGO - The City Council declined Tuesday to endorse proposed regulations that would govern medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego, opting instead to forward the package to a committee for more vetting.
The recommendations were made by the 11-member Medical Marijuana Task Force, which was established by the City Council last September amid concern over the proliferation of unlicensed dispensaries in the city.
Last month, the task force recommended the City Council adopt laws that would prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego from being located within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds, libraries and areas where children frequent.
The panel also called for medical marijuana dispensaries to be barred from locating within 500 feet of each other.
Under the proposed regulations, medical marijuana dispensaries would also have to hire security and obtain appropriate land-use permits. The task force also called for limiting the hours medical marijuana store fronts can operate and requiring the businesses to operate as nonprofits.
Without an endorsement, the City Council voted 7-1 to refer the task force's recommendations to a community planning committee prior to a hearing before the Land Use and Housing Committee in March.
Council members Tony Young, Kevin Faulconer and Sherri Lightner agreed to refer the task force's recommendations to the Land Use and Housing Committee, but said more work needs to be done before agreeing to them.
"I think it's important for us to continue to have this discussion," Young told his colleagues. "I think that we should have that discussion at Land Use and Housing. However, there are still a lot of concerns that I have on the impact on communities when it comes to the facilitation of this issue."
At a prior hearing on the subject, several community members were opposed to allowing any medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, calling instead for a prohibition.
Councilman Carl DeMaio, who didn't support the formation of the task force, cast the lone dissenting vote, arguing the regulations "open the door" to more medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.
He said he sympathizes with the sick who use medical marijuana, but said there are abuses.
"What I don't believe we should make available are corner shops where marijuana is sold as a commodity under the guise of a patient-caregiver relationship," DeMaio said.
Councilman Todd Gloria said the task force's recommendations are needed to "provide clear rules of the road" for the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego.
Councilwomen Donna Frye and Marti Emerald agreed.
"The goal here is to put in some guidelines that actually make sense and people can understand what the rules are," Frye said, adding that the guidelines put forward by the state are not clear.
It became legal in California for seriously ill patients under the supervision of a physician to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes with the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996. Since then, dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives have sprung up in San Diego.
Sentencing Postponed
SAN DIEGO - A defense request to reduce a felony drug conviction to a misdemeanor forced postponement Monday in the sentencing of the manager of a medical marijuana collective found guilty of illegally possessing Xanax and ecstasy.
Jovan Jackson, 31, was acquitted of possession of marijuana and possession of the drug for profit but faces more than three years in prison because of the Xanax and ecstasy convictions. He will probably get probation, said Deputy District Attorney Chris Lindberg.
Lindberg told Judge Cynthia Bashant Monday that he needed more time to respond to a defense motion to reduce the felony possession of ecstasy conviction to a misdemeanor. The possession of Xanax charge is already a misdemeanor, said Jackson's attorney, K. Lance Rogers.
Sentencing was rescheduled to Jan. 6.
Jackson's case was the first of its kind to go to trial following a series of law enforcement raids in September that resulted in 31 arrests and the closure of 14 medical marijuana storefronts in San Diego. His case stemmed from raids last year at Answerdam Alternative Care Collective in Kearny Mesa.
Jurors who spoke to reporters after the verdicts were read Dec. 1 said the laws on medical marijuana sales from collectives were vague, prompting them to find the defendant innocent on the marijuana-related charges.
Lindberg told jurors in his opening statement that the case against Jackson was not about medical marijuana, but making money.
During raids in June and July of 2008, officers found credit card receipts for more than $150,000 in sales at Answerdam Alternative Care Collective, Lindberg said.
An undercover San Diego police officer was able to get a medical marijuana recommendation from a doctor and then bought marijuana on two occasions at Answerdam, which, according to its records, had 1,649 members.
Lindberg said the undercover officer paid $20 to join Answerdam and immediately was able to buy the drugs.
A raid on Aug. 5, 2008 at Answerdam turned up 5-to-6 pounds of marijuana and a receipt in Jackson's name for a $100,000 transaction with an investment company, Lindberg said.
Agents also searched the defendant's home and found some marijuana by his bed and 17 ecstasy tablets, according to the prosecutor.
Lindberg told the jury that Jackson took advantage of a law that allows medical marijuana patients to legally buy the drug from a collective.
But Rogers told the jury in his opening statement that the undercover officer signed up for the medical marijuana collective under false pretenses, using a fake name and getting a false medical recommendation.
Rogers said Lindberg wouldn't be able to prove that Jackson "stood out" from other members in the collective.
Jackson, an eight-year Navy veteran, faces similar drug charges from an undercover buy at the collective this year.
The number of medical marijuana dispensaries rose recently, following San Diego County's failed attempt to overturn the state's 1996 medical marijuana law and U.S. Attorney Eric Holder's directive that federal agents will only target medical marijuana storefronts when operators violate both state and federal laws.
Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Raided
SAN DIEGO - The doors padlocked -- the businesses shut down. 14 medical marijuana dispensaries around the county are raided after a four-month undercover operation.
"These so-called businesses are not legal. They appear to be run by drug dealers who see an opening in the market and a way to make a fast buck," says San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
In the raids, half a dozen guns were found, drugs, and $70,000.
Thirty-one people are under arrest; some have a criminal past.
Two of the people arrested, James Dean Stacy and Joseph Nunes are facing federal charges.
"They are doing this under the guise of helping people who are sick but we're not fooled and the people shouldn't be fooled either," says Dumanis.
The Chief of Police says many of the dispensaries were operating as a for-profit business which is against the law. He says one shop had records that showed it had an income of $700,000 in the past six months.
"We have not found one yet in San Diego that has been operating within the guidelines of the Attorney General, says Chief William Lansdowne.
Criminal Attorney Patrick Dudley says some of the businesses were caught on technicalities. He says they were given 48 hours notice to provide the proper paperwork to show they were operating legally.
"I think there's definitely people out there who were legitimately serving medical marijuana patients and trying to abide by the Attorney General's guidelines as best they could," says Patrick Dudley.
Many of those arrested are expected to be in court on Friday to see what charges they will face.
