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US: Santa Barbara Cannabis Clubs Get Official Ordinance

Santa Barbara Independent

Thursday 20 Mar 2008

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Clearing the Smoke.

The legally murky haze of rules and regulations surrounding Santa
Barbara’s seven documented medical marijuana dispensaries got a whole
lot easier to see through this week, as the Santa Barbara City Council
unanimously approved an ordinance aimed at clearing up issues ranging
from permits and zoning to on-site consumption and universal performance
standards. Even as federal drug agents working with the Santa Barbara
Sheriff’s Department raided a dispensary within city limits for the
first time ever this past weekend, councilmembers voted in support of
medicinal cannabis users. Moments before the motion passed with a 4-0
vote—Mayor Marty Blum and Councilmember Das Williams were
absent—Councilmember Helene Schneider summed up the sprit of the day
as “successfully finding the balance between providing legal access to
necessary medicine for those who need it while also providing rules for
being a good neighbor to those who dispense it.”

Spurred into action late last summer, when the number of dispensaries in
town exceeded the number of Starbucks coffee shops, the City Council
placed a six-month moratorium on new club applications at the request of
several dispensary owners wishing to better define the legal landscape
of their emerging industry. After all, at that time, one needed to do
little more than apply for a business license in order to open up shop.

After brainstorming sessions at the staff level and in meetings of both
the Ordinance Committee and the Planning Commission, an ordinance was
proposed this week that, among other things, allows new clubs in
commercially zoned areas on lower Milpas Street from Carpinteria Street
to Canon Perdido, upper State Street from Calle Real to Calle Laureles,
and on the Mesa within 1,000 feet of Meigs Road. Clubs are also
prohibited from operating within 500 feet of any K-12 school, public
park, or previously existing dispensary. Additionally, the ordinance
outlaws on-site consumption of cannabis, save for THC-laced edibles
eaten by employees; requires a background check on prospective business
operators; mandates accurate and confidential patient records; and
prevents the clubs from selling alcohol or marijuana paraphernalia. Also
of note, the ordinance grants the power to approve business licenses to
the city staff hearing officer and grants licenses indefinitely, as long
as the location and ownership of the club remain the same.

According to city numbers, seven cannabis clubs are operating within
city limits. (A recent Independent survey found 12, however.) When the
bite of the new ordinance, specifically the zoning rules, is applied to
them, only one, Hortipharm on upper State Street, will be in compliance,
said project supervisor Danny Kato. Two others—Sacred Mountain on
Parker Way and AMG on East Haley Street—are partially up to snuff.
With all seven of these clubs essentially grandfathered in by the
interim ordinance passed in the wake of the moratorium last fall,
councilmembers placed an addendum on the new ordinance that gives
existing clubs three years to resolve their non-conforming locations, so
long as they follow all of the remaining new rules of engagement.

Patrick Fourmy—owner and operator of one of the city’s longest running
dispensaries, The Compassionate Center—applauded the council’s efforts
and urged councilmembers to enforce a “higher level of transparency” on
all existing and future clubs. Pointing to a similar ordinance in
Oakland, Fourmy stressed the importance of completely open financial
books and full disclosure of income and expenses as a means of both
weeding out “unethical” proprietors and keeping federal agents at bay.

The ordinance returns as formality to the council next week for final
approval. “I’m sure that we will be tuning this over time,” noted
Councilmember Dale Francisco in apparent reference to the lack of means
for tracking how much medical cannabis is being dispensed and also the
raid on the Pacific Greens dispensary this weekend. As of press time,
the Sheriff’s Department remained mum on the topic, other than
acknowledging its involvement in the action.

http://www.independent.com/news/2008/mar/20/santa-barbara-cannabis-clubs-get-official-ordinanc/

 

 

 

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