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Council halts medical marijuana dispensaries
02.11.07|portervillerecorder.com

City Councilmembers approved an interim emergency ordinance prohibiting the operation of dispensaries of medical marijuana.

The moratorium gives city staff and the city attorney time to research how other cities have dealt with medical marijuana sites.

One Porterville area resident, Barbara Gibbs, addressed the board on their duty to uphold Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, approved by California voters in November 1996.

“I feel that the vote of the people should be something that's valued and recognized,” Gibbs said “If not then why don't we just become a state where they tell us what to do and not let us make our own laws.”

The moratorium puts a 30-day restriction on the use of property within the city for the purposes of dispensing medicinal marijuana.

City Attorney Julie Lew said she expects to return to the council with a report on doctor recommendations, how the drug is distributed and how the dispensaries obtain the marijuana.

“I believe we can get this done before we have to ask for an extension,” Lew said. “I believe I can get the information you need to you by the next council meeting.”

Lew said the council essentially has two options to consider in regulating medical marijuana sites.

“You can choose to permit and regulate dispensaries in conjunction with Tulare County,” Lew said. “Or the other option is to say we're not going to allow any establishments that do not operate in accordance with federal law.”

Tulare County has a medical marijuana identification program, administered through the Department of Health and Human Services, to protect patients and caregivers from arrest since the Board of Supervisors approved such a program last spring.

Marijuana dispensaries are already located in Visalia and Tulare.

The identification program is a result of Prop. 215. The law allows patients or their caregivers to possess or cultivate marijuana for medical purposes if they have a doctor's written recommendation.

Kern and Fresno counties have also implemented marijuana identification programs. Kern County is home to five medical marijuana dispensaries, according to a National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws on-line site.