Ukiah: Medical Marijuana dispensaries ban OK'd

Medical Marijuana dispensaries ban OK'd
By KATIE MINTZ The Daily Journal
Article Last Updated: 04/20/2007 08:41:15 AM PDT

The city of Ukiah has decided to "just say no" to medical marijuana dispensaries.

On Wednesday, the Ukiah City Council directed staff to return with an ordinance that, once approved, will place a permanent ban on the opening of medical marijuana dispensaries in city limits.

For approximately the last two years, a temporary moratorium has been in place. It began as a 45-day ban in May 2005, in response to public safety concerns, but was extended through May 2007 to allow for legal clarification on the conflict between the state's medical marijuana Compassionate Use Act and federal law prohibiting the substance altogether.

City Attorney David Rapport said there has been no clarification, but that an opinion from the State Attorney General is expected to be issued this summer, and that, in the meantime, with the temporary moratorium stretched to its legal limit, the council should decide how it would like to move forward with imposing regulations.

"I'm reminded of what I was told as a kid: Just say no," Councilman Doug Crane said, beginning the council's discussion on the issue Wednesday night.

He clarified later, that as a councilmember, he took an oath of office saying he would uphold the U.S. Constitution, and so feels he cannot support marijuana use.

"It does seem the simplest and most certain course for the city," Councilman John McCowen said of the idea of just saying no.

According to McCowen, the council, historically, has not been opposed to medical
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marijuana, but to the "unregulated threat to public safety."

But Councilman Benj Thomas pointed out the difficulty in balancing "the right of people who have a legitimate need for medical marijuana to get it and the right of citizens in the city to have an environment that is not trashed and even endangered by some of these excesses that we have seen around medical marijuana clinics."

He suggested the council ban dispensaries for now, but be open to a proposal for a dispensary in the future that could function in a way that is congruent with community values.

Dane Wilkins, director of the NorCal affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, was supportive of the idea, which was approved by a general consensus of the council.

"We want to take the easy way, we want to say no, but the prime benefactor from a dispensary in town is the patient, the legitimate medical marijuana patient," Wilkins reminded the council.

According to Wilkins, the only dispensary currently in the county is located in Fort Bragg, which makes it difficult for the seriously ill in the Ukiah Valley to obtain their medicine. He's optimistic that the council will be open to lifting the ban in the future should a sound proposal arise.

Another marijuana advocate had a different take on the solution.

"I would also like to encourage the "just say know," K-N-O-W for knowledge. I think you all need to learn a great deal more about this matter," Ukiah Sativa Morrison said in a nearly nine-minute speech laced with personal attacks on both a councilmember and public citizen.

Morrison said he has failed at trying to open his own dispensary since the last dispensary in Ukiah, Hemp Plus Ministries on North State Street, closed, but he encouraged the city to move forward with banning such operations.

"I agree with you on a point, that you should prohibit these dispensaries because they are a safety hazard, not to the rest of the community per se, but to the owners, the people who work in them," Morrison said.

Morrison worked as a "reverend" at Hemp Plus Ministries until its owner, Les Crane, was slain in his home in Laytonville in November 2005. The facility, which dispensed medical marijuana as well as educational information about cannabis, was recognized as a church by the city.

Morrison said he believes the solution to an outright prohibition on dispensaries is "cooperative collectives" with similar "education liberation stations" as that of Hemp Plus Ministries.

The city, however, will not be alone in its outright ban of dispensaries.

According to Rapport, between 16 and 20 cities and counties throughout the state have banned medical marijuana dispensaries, or "cannabis clubs," since Prop. 215 was passed in 1996. In neighboring Sonoma County, Rohnert Park banned dispensaries in February, and Windsor is expected to vote to ban dispensaries in May.

Rapport said Ukiah's ordinance will be brought back for formal introduction in May or June.

Katie Mintz can be reached at udjkm [at] pacific.net.