Whose fault is it anyway?
New state laws expected to make medical marijuana more legitimate have had the opposite effect across California and in San Diego, where the legislation has prompted most cities to reaffirm previous bans or make their restrictions even more rigorous.
Exceptions include the city of San Diego and the county government, the only two local jurisdictions that allow dispensaries. The county also allows cultivation and the new state laws have prompted the San Diego city attorney’s office to begin exploring how to follow suit.
But in nearly every place else in the county, city councils have voted to reaffirm bans on dispensaries. In addition, most have added new bans on cultivation and many have banned deliveries for the first time.
A lot of work into a massive piece of legislation and I don’t believe they expected so few jurisdictions to react well. I Wonder why?
The Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which was signed into law in October and took effect Jan. 1, created California’s first regulatory framework for medical marijuana since voters legalized it in 1996.
It created a tax and fee structure, regulatory testing requirements and other new rules, but it also wrote into state law that local jurisdictions have the power to regulate or ban all marijuana-related activity.
As for deliveries from dispensaries “I don’t think anybody ever said they wanted drug dealers driving all over their communities,” That’s the consensus from one city official. Oh Boy! City officials want deliveries to be tightly regulated. Reaction statewide has been similar, with more than 260 California cities passing complete bans this winter.
However, on a good note there have been some notable exceptions. Sacramento has voted to allow commercial cultivation, Long Beach decided to allow delivery services and Humboldt County passed a comprehensive ordinance covering all aspects.
The cause of the barrage of bans was a March 1 deadline that cities regulate cultivation or cede the power to do so to the state. The deadline, which virtually everyone agrees was mistakenly included in the new state laws, and was removed on Feb. 3 – but not before it had spurred many cities to action.
The March 1 deadline sort of put cities under the gun and spooked them in a way that was counterproductive. In other words, if you don’t have to time to craft the appropriate, well-thought-out functional legislation and if you have the alternative of a ban, then what are you going to do? Classic red tape.
A slew of bans is the result of the state legislation saying that cities would no longer be allowed to ban deliveries based on something called “permissive zoning,” but would have to start explicitly addressing the practice by either banning it or allowing it with regulations. More red tape coming.
We all knew it would be extremely difficult for cities and law enforcement agencies to regulate deliveries. Now I know why the San Diego Chargers can’t get a football stadium built in San Diego? Red Tape, Why Crews of Bud Trimmers are working part time? Red Tape, What next? A ban on delivery service for Commercial Wet / Dry Trimming machines? Wait a minute!
Michael Garay ~