Fremont Bans MJ Clubs

http://www.fremontbulletin.com/local/ci_4047826
Fremont (CA) Bulletin July 15, 2006

Council votes to block pot clubs
by Wes Bowers

Fremont City Council Tuesday unanimously voted
to ban medical marijuana dispensaries in Fremont.

The vote comes as the city's moratorium on the
issue, enacted in late 2004, expires on Sept. 28.
State law indicates that once the moratorium
expires, it cannot be continued, according to
city reports.

Currently, federal laws view marijuana as having
no accepted medical use. Under federal law, the
cultivation, possession and distribution of the
substance is illegal.

However, in 1996, California voters passed
Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, which
protects qualified patients and their primary
caregivers from prosecution under state law for
possession or cultivation of marijuana and its
use as a medicinal substance.

However, this is only to treat a serious illness
with a doctor's recommendation.

City of Fremont staff reports state that
conflict between the two levels of law continue
with no resolution in sight.

Staff recommended that Fremont City Council
enact an ordinance prohibiting the establishment
of medical marijuana dispensaries, consistent
with federal law.

Council member Bob Wie-ckowski initially
believed the ordinance was too overbearing.

"The voters passed a proposition to allow
dispensaries in California," he said Tuesday.
"I'm concerned that our prohibition will go too
far in not allowing dispensaries. I'm cognizant
of the abuses that go on, but will this ordinance
allow a hospital or hospice care center to
dispense medical marijuana as a treatment?"

Wieckowski said the definition of a dispensary
excluded hospitals or hospice care facilities. He
envisioned a cooperative agreement between
hospitals and a temporary facility on hospital
grounds.

However, Fremont Police Chief Craig Steckler
said marijuana, under federal laws, is strictly
illegal.

"The voters did not vote for dispensaries," he
said. "The proposition said you could possess it
and cultivate it, but you could not distribute it.

"But, there is no intention in Congress or the
Supreme Court to change federal law," he added.
"We, the Fremont Police Department, will enforce
federal laws, which state it is illegal to
possess, sell and dispense marijuana."

Steckler said that currently 22 California
cities have banned the dispensaries, while 24
cities are regulating them.

Additionally, 66 cities are still in a
decision-making mode over the issue, he said.

Shortly after the passage of Proposition 215 in
1996, several dispensaries attempted to open in
San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Cruz, but the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency closed the
dispensaries.

In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
"there is no medical necessity exception to the
prohibition against possession and use of
marijuana under federal law, even when the
patient is Ôseriously ill' and lacks alternate
sources of relief."

In 2003, the state legislature passed Senate
Bill 420, the Medical Marijuana Program.

That legislation created a voluntary system for
patients and caregivers to obtain identification
cards issued by counties, which insulated them
from arrest in regards to state marijuana laws.
However, it did not authorize the establishment
of dispensaries, even though several people
attempted to open them.

©2006 by MediaNews Group, Inc.

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