Articles Posted in California Marijuana Dispensaries

You can add Santa Cruz to the list of municipalities looking at regulating medical marijuana dispensaries in California. The Santa Cruz Sentinel is, of all things, urging its Board of Supervisors to act faster, saying other dispensaries “may bud” before its elected officials again take up the issue in March.

Our medical marijuana dispensary lawyers in Riverside and San Bernardino have seen the media take thoughtful, in-depth, measured and considered approaches to the marijuana issue. This is apparently not one of those times.

The voters legalized medical marijuana in California 15 years ago. In recent years, municipality after municipality has enacted rash, amateur legislation that will cost taxpayers millions to litigate. Meanwhile, most marijuana dispensary owners would be happy to comply with reasonable rules and regulations that promote the safe, effective and legal delivery of medical marijuana to patients.

The last thing a newspaper should be doing is rushing a community’s officials into taking rash action. The city has already limited the number of dispensaries to just two. New plans call for, among others things, a bugger zone of 600 to 800 foot from schools and other sensitive areas.

Commissioners would give shops a year to comply with the new rules.
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Our Orange County marijuana dispensary lawyers noted a defendant was sentenced to 54 years in prison for the robbery of a Laguna Niguel medical marijuana dispensary and the attempted murder of its owner, the Orange County Register reported.

As we have reported repeatedly on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, legally operating medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles are too often victimized by crime. The risks are further exacerbated when high-ranking law enforcement officials such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff make statements that essentially blame dispensary owners and employees for being crime victims.

In this case, two other defendants, ages 21 and 22, were convicted in October of two counts of attempted murder and two counts of second-degree attempted robbery. An accomplice had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder and one count of second-degree attempted robbery. They were each sentenced to seven years in state prison.

The men were accused or the September 2008 robbery of a Laguna Niguel dispensary. During the robbery the defendant struggled with the owner, firing two shots that went through a window. He attempted to fire several more times during the struggle but the firearm failed. Employees were able to pry the gun way from him.

To add insult to injury, the responding authorities launched an investigation into the legitimacy of the shop. Perhaps the reason the city did not know of its existence is because it has responded to inquiries for license by saying its code prohibits such establishments!
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As the San Bernardino planning commission meets today to consider a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, the Contra Costa Times reports it would be the fourth Southern California County to do so.

Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties have all moved to ban dispensaries in unincorporated areas. As our San Bernardino marijuana dispensary lawyers have reported on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, the county has been losing the fight against state law for more than a decade.

Recent court decisions have trended in favor of medical marijuana dispensaries, patients and collectives. Those who are fighting for their legal rights can expect the best chances of surviving the onslaught of local legislative action that flies directly in the face of state law.

Of the 24 incorporated areas in San Bernardino County, 19 have passed bans, four have moratoriums and Chino Hills is attempting to ban medical marijuana through an ordinance against breaking federal law. The San Bernardino sheriff alleges crime has increased in areas that have permitted medical marijuana dispensaries.

As we reported previously, the California Department of Justice reports crime rates have fallen by approximately 50 percent in the last two decades.

Meanwhile, collectives continue to ask for simple and basic protection of their rights: A local ordinance they can comply with while operating legally under state law.
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Planning commission documents from San Bernardino outline the fight for medical marijuana rights dating back more than a decade. As our San Bernardino marijuana dispensary lawyers frequently report, it is those businesses and patients that stand and fight for their rights against the unlawful encroachment of the government who have the best chance of prevailing in the end.

San Bernardino officials will meet Thursday for a hearing to adopt an amendment banning dispensaries.

California voters passed the Compassionate Use Act in 1996. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s nearly 15 years ago. Teenagers preparing to get their driver’s license were not yet born when medical marijuana was not legal in California. The Compassionate Use Act was clarified by the Medical Marijuana Program Act of 2004.

Still, San Bernardino County and the San Bernardino County sheriff’s office sued in 2006, challenging the CUA and MMP as a violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970 — marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

Both the trial court and appeal court upheld the legality of California’s medical marijuana law. The California Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court both declined to hear the case.

And, since San Bernardino County decided to challenge state law instead of complying with it, it did not even bother to institute Medical Marijuana Identification Cards until June 2009. Meanwhile, the planning commission notes medical marijuana dispensaries “proliferated in varying degrees in jurisdictions that have actively accommodated California medical marijuana laws.”

In other words, dispensaries served patients in communities that did not spend tax dollars violating state law.

Meanwhile, not ones to let a series of resounding losses in court stop them from spending more tax dollars to fight the laws of their own state, the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors adopted its “Urgency Interim Ordinance 4083” in June of 2009. Having lost in court, the county still issued a “temporary moratorium” on issuing permits to medical marijuana dispensaries. Ostensibly, the reason was to permit staff to review possible amendments to the development code.

Supervisors are busy, after all, and 10 years was apparently not enough time. What the county is really up to is looking at using zoning and development laws to effectively eliminate a dispensary’s ability to achieve compliance. (These outright bans are also being successfully challenged by medical marijuana defense lawyers in Los Angeles and elsewhere).

Never ones to act when delay is possible, the “Urgency interim ordinance” was extended in August 2009 and again in June 2010. Further extensions are not permitted under California law so we can be sure the politicians are fixing to act, even if it’s wrong.

San Bernardino officials note they have been holding lots of meetings on the issues, gathering input, etc. The term “stakeholders” was likely used at least once. During these meetings staff claims to have found an increase in crime has resulted from permitting medical marijuana facilities to operate. At right you see a graph from the California Department of Justice that shows the downward trend of both violent crime and property crime over the last two decades.

Now county officials contend the development code does not permit medical marijuana dispensaries because it states “any use not specifically allowed shall be prohibited.”

We wonder if it permits Internet Cafes.
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San Diego’s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to impose more than $11,000 in annual fees on dispensaries, according to the LaJolla Light.

Our Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary lawyers represent patients and collectives throughout Southern California. We currently represent more than a dozen dispensaries in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. Whether the issues is prohibition, city or county ordinances, or excessive taxation, the message is the same: Collectives and dispensaries must aggressively fight for their rights if they wish to survive.

As we reported late last year on our Marijuana Lawyer Blog, Los Angeles city council is attempting to tax dispensaries, despite passing an ordinance that seeks to force more than 80 percent of them out of business.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department reports the $11,017 fee per dispensary is based on what it costs the Sheriff’s Department for investigation, permitting and compliance checks.

In recruiting new officers, the department advertises wages for veteran deputies (those with more than 5 years experience) starting at $35 an hour. Assuming the sheriff assigns veteran officers to such critical tasks as babysitting legally operating marijuana businesses, it would take 314 man hours to cost $11,000 an hour.

In other words, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office is asserting that policing each marijuana dispensary requires nearly 40 work days per year — or about 8 work weeks of an officer’s time per dispensary!

A rookie officer could spend 500 hours, or 62 workdays per dispensary.

The fees in San Francisco are $11,443. They are $8,539 in Los Angeles.

The amendment would also require dispensary operators to be fingerprinted. Dispensaries also must be located at least 1,000 feet from schools, parks and other specified areas.
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