A call to Ventura citizens: where to next on medical marijuana?

Last fall, our City Council voted for a temporary moratorium on so-called "medical marijuana" outlets. We were the last city in Ventura County to enact such restrictions.

Shutting the door on storefront access to marijuana is frustrating to medical marijuana advocates. They note that Proposition 215 passed back in 1996 and many patients complain about having to drive outside the County for access to the dispensaries that have sprung up in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles Counties.

In enacting the moratorium, the Council majority directed staff to give greater study to the question of how to allow safe and lawful access to "medical marijuana." The path to that study is to involve citizens in discussion and analysis of the options open to local communities. Two upcoming meetings have been called to provide a forum for those discussions (see below.)

As explored before, our City Attorney has cited State Attorney General opinions and court opinions that have cast serious doubt on the legality under both Federal and State law of so-called "medical marijuana dispensaries." In some other communities (notably Los Angeles and Santa Barbara), these have blossomed to provide over-the-counter sales of marijuana if a customer can provide a "recommendation" from a physician (which has spawned a companion business for selling such recommendations reportedly given out with little more than filling out a health questionnaire and paying a fee.)

There is another model of tightly controlled and regulated "co-operatives" that bear greater resemblance to the original provisions of Proposition 215. That law was short on details, but seemed to restrict access to patients and their "primary care givers." Obviously, not every seriously ill person has the ability to "grow their own." That has given credence to the idea that patients and caregivers might band together to share marijuana cultivation and distribution. This is a far cry, of course, from commercial "dispensaries." In fact, there is not a word in Proposition 215 about such businesses.

Unfortunately, the debate over how to appropriately regulate access to "medical marijuana" is often overshadowed by the divisive debate over legalization of marijuana. California voters will likely get to decide on that question this November. In the meantime, Ventura is trying to focus discussion on how to proceed within existing (and conflicting) State and Federal laws.

To help sort out how we do that, the City Council is inviting community input at two upcoming meetings. Both are on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room at City Hall, 501 Poli Street Room 202, on the following dates. The first is * Thursday, March 11 and the second is Thursday, April 1.

For more information, click here.