LBPOST.com: Long Beach Passes Medical Marijuana Ordinance

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Long Beach Passes Medical Marijuana Ordinance

by Ryan ZumMallen | Long Beach News | 03.10.10 |

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10:00am | A motion to create an ordinance regulating medical marijuana was passed 5-4 by the Long Beach City Council last night, making it easier to govern the growth and sale of medpot by establishing ground rules.

The Council passed an ordinance very similar to the one that had been hotly debated over the past few weeks, but including stricter buffer zones around schools and mandating that all medical marijuana must be grown within city limits. The latter regulation was created with the idea of keeping out illegal growers and drug cartels, while medical marijuana lobbyists and owners insisted that growing the marijuana in house was not only infeasible but greatly increased the risk of theft and crime.

Local lobbyist Carl Kemp - who represents about ten local dispensaries - told the LBPOST.com in February that requiring shops to grow themselves and within city limits was a mistake.

�If I were a property owner in Long Beach, I wouldn�t want medical marijuana grown in my property,� Kemp said in February. �Not because of any philosophical view, but because of what it might do to my building.�

The City of Los Angeles passed a similar - but not identical - ordinance last year and has been sued on the grounds that the ordinance is unconstitutional. Long Beach City Attorney Robert Shannon said during a Monday evening debate that crafting ordinances should not be dictated by whether or not the City is likely to be sued over them.

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33 Comments so far.

HB
This will only keep illegal growers and drug cartels out if the amount of marijuana grown on these properties can be regulated. Otherwise, there is the potential for a surplus to be grown sold in the informal (illegal) market beyond what is sold legally in their legal market. Drug cartels can easily infiltrate or collaborate with a legal business to do this. Otherwise, I don't care how much marijuana is bought, sold, eaten or smoked as long the profits don't fuel vicious street gangs/drug cartels and people don't drive stoned.

chris
amazing. There are so many other issues in this city and when will the worthless city attorney actually spend some time resolving real crime problems. Make out streets safer. Adopt an ordinance that cost us local residents how much money to adopt. How much money will this cost to enforce the ordinance this is so bad. Just as bad as the garage sale police city permits required to sell your junk at your own house. Reasoning it reduces crime and problem people. Really are the facts behind this? Its time to review who is actually voting on our behalf. Realize the every political figure that represents us, does not represent the public, but rather represents the narrow opinions of the self,You shall follow me! I have the power! These laws, rules, ordinances need to come from a vote of the public! I am sure we spent enough money to make this ordinance to hold an entire election over. Government reformation! At all levels! we have no control. This state and this country is no longer about we the people! And considering we the people voted in Medpot! We had reasons for the yes votes! Do I promote criminal activities associated with Medpot, no under no circumstances! Oh I could write for days on this subject! Its not about Medpot for me it is another example of government out of control!

Sober
Thanks Chris for that piece about laissez faire gov't. For all of us who don't have to drink or use drugs to enjoy life, I would rather see this medpot regulated out of existence. It does not make my life any better that pot is legal. Nor does it make my children's futures any brighter. Congrats to the city council for getting a little tougher. Personally, I think they fell short of the desired restrictiveness, but I will take what I can get.

dc
Amen Chris. I want to know the names of the 5 councilpeople who voted for this so we can vote them OUT.

Two Cents
Ok Chris you ramble. First, the City Attorney is not the prosecutor. We have a City Prosecutor who did not write the ordinance but had input. HE prosecutes the crime, not the City Attorney. The ordinance was needed because the potheads were taking over and some control was needed. See LBcitygirl blogs, she's a pothead who has lost brain cells and favors medpot. Yes, Chris medpot was voted in not by a government out of control but by us, tricked by clever potheads under the pretense of medicinal use. We've all been had.

THC & TLC Equals Relief
As much as I disagree with all of the Med programs I would rather have this then the pharmaceutical companies growing this stuff. They would not touch it because of the profit margins and it is not manufactured to create more problems so other drugs can be sold to solve the issues of the original prescription. My mother would eat my brownies to keep her appetite up and it worked until the Chemotherapy finally did her in. It gave her a gentle way of dealing with her pain. The same for a brother transitioning from AIDS as a result of a bad blood transfusion from a car accident trauma in 1984. He eat it until his death in 1991. It gave him relief as well. There is no doubt that THC works for those in need. Its just an issue of matter of distribution.

LBCityGirl
@twocents Thanks for promoting my blog for me! I couldn't have asked for better advertising. Now folks can go see for themselves how full of BS you are. I rarely blog about medical marijuana on my blog. However, I do have a feature on how to write me in as Mayor in 2010! Enjoy!

LBCityGirl
http://www.lbcitygirl.blogspot.com/

charmnwit
Sober, medical cannabis is NOT intended to be recreational or used to "enjoy" life, but necessary for those of us who have serious medical conditions (cancer, AIDS, autoimmune) that "legal" drugs either cannot manage or cause life threatening side effects. Medical cannabis makes my life better...being able to manage the debilitating symptoms of my disease allows me to be an involved parent, work full-time, and enjoy the simple things in life that others who have never been seriously ill take for granted.

Lou
I don't mind compassionate use, but the guys with the bad case of tennis elbow drive me crazy. Med Pot is a scam! Get ready, a Jamaican pharmacy is coming soon to an empty storefront near you.

JR Salazar
Chris: You can always move to a different country and become an expatriate. Otherwise, accept it for what it is.

WolveinSocal
I think it's great that "Sober" is a convert to sobriety, but why do we all have to suffer his scornful indignation just because he once lacked discipline and apparently cannot be moderate without the government telling him what he can and cannot do.

chris rambles
I will have to assume that chris is a co-operative member who may need to have his meds adjusted. If medpot is such a great idea, the State should scrap the co-operative concept completely and allow sales in registered, licensed, pharmacies only, just like all other prescription medications.

Sean in Long Beach
What about a Pot Shop on the same property as a Sober Living? Incredible? Well, it exists. Sean Zullo Choices Recovery Services

Free the market!
Victory for the pot users, from the working person who engages recreationally to the medical user to the lazy slurpee guzzling stoner. A plant that the good Lord made is being closer to being legalized. Supply and demand are meeting. This is just the beginning though, what about hemp? It's the reason why mary jane isn't legal and it doesn't get you high. All commodities, until proven to cause direct social harm and/or be out of control should have the freedom to be traded as any other good or service. Whether you you use it or not, if you believe in your rights to a fair and efficient market, you should not let government intervene willy-nilly. Good job council! We've been using it for years, better legal productive citizens engaging in and stimulating markets than going to jail and costing everyone a fortune.

parent in 90807
I just don't know what truly is right. What I do know is the middle school that my son attends, has had students bring marijuana to school with intent to sell. Some students have been expelled and /or arrested. We are talking about 12 to 14 year olds selling to others of the same age. How wide spread will this get? With the struggles and challenges with budget cuts, loss of school personnel, increase in class size, now all administraters at school need to need take their time to do whatever they can to police for this. I think there needs to betighter regulations!!

Diana Lejins
Isn't it interesting that the cops and Prosecutor claim med pot draws crime. Yet, in the past five years as the number of dispensaries have grown, the crime rates have repeatedly gone down?!

Downtown
This is completely silly ordinance. It's like saying alcohol sold in Long Beach must be brewed in Long Beach. This is an attempt by Long Beach City Council to regulate something that they are not in favor of. The fact is, they shouldn't have any control over the issue. The vote should be given to the people, especially on an issue with this much importance. Ryan, could you please provide the names of the council members, and the direction each voted in your next article. I don't have time to attend council meetings, but want to direct my vote in the right direction in the next election.

BUGGA BOO BOO
After reading all the comments - Don't worry, at the way things are going, Obama will soon be controlling that too with his Obamacare bill - if it passes that is.:)

CONCERNED
Well I voted for MEDICAL MJ...but it is a farse...the voters wanted to help the cancer patient etc.... but that's not what we got...just look at the advertisements..."insomnia" etc... then ask my 18 year old son who at the promting of an 20-something friend got a 'perscription" for ADD!!!!! Then started to sell it to local high school kids until I found out and sent him to Oklahoma to live with his sister where they have no MED-MJ. He totally screwed up his life with the help of some "doctor" who gave an 18 year old immature kid a "perscription" for ADD- the voters were fooled...and I was one of them!

dds
Pragmatic Proposition: Subsidize leases some of the many vacant buildings on Pine Ave to growers who are willing to be licensed as the City sees fit, in return impose a 20% tax on all sales.

Sober
WolveinSocal: Why so dismissive? Because you can't give me a single good reason why my life, or my children's lives would be any better because you're a pothead?

M & M's & feds
I didn't think a city, county, state could over rule or negate a federal law? May be the city is trying to get monies or a tax from all of this? Hey if the CA legislature family of all of those with the last name beginning with "L's" can make laws to make revenue why not here too? I'll bet the feds will stop/cut/eliminate all monies and grants and funding from the federal government to Long Beach all because of this vote? How much taxes can Long Beach get on that #13 plant hemp or is it Kemp?

Greggory
It should be noted that in fact we do not yet have an ordinance; this will come back for at least one more reading and vote.

Carol Foster
Chris is right on. When will this city, state, nation work on our REAL problems and let the other stuff go. We are so incredibly backward in the US. Our reps don't listen to voters. When we do vote overwhelmingly on an issue, such as problems with ILLEGALS and the enormous amounts of money they drain from AMERICANS, it is ignored, but something like medpot is made a priority. When this country turns into MEXICO (as So. Cal already has) will they do some then?? It will be too late. Get your priorities in order!! I hate watching my country being destroyed. The crime in Long Beach is overwhelming caused by illegals. You bleeding heart libs can call me whatever you want but I see it every single day in my profession.

mary brownling
Did anyone see the lobbyist CArl Kemp trying to influence on the side Dee Andrews rep; looks like it didn't go well given Dee's vote, things not going well for good boy Carl - lobbyist ordinance, gets defeated on medical marijuana vote for his clients, and bad ju ju with council members couldn't happen to a nicer "fake" guy.

malcolmkyle
Prohibition is a sickening horror and the ocean of human wreckage it has left in its wake is almost endless. Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior which has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most normal thinking people in the direction of sensible regulation. By its very nature prohibition cannot fail but create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model - the international Drug Trade. Any decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous, ruthless drug dealers, who are interested only in the huge profits involved. Prohibition ideology is based on lies and the 'War on Drugs' is a de facto 'war on people' (some might even successfully argue that it's a de facto race war). Prohibition has decimated generations and criminalized millions for a behavior which is entwined in human existence, and for what other purpose than to uphold the defunct and corrupt thinking of a minority of misguided, self-righteous Neo-Puritans and degenerate demagogues who wish nothing but unadulterated destruction on the rest of us!

mh
pothead? silly all the name calling personal attacks against anyone with alternate views. sure signs of a bored person with a closed mind not truly willing to maturely discuss social issues..

the man
Hey to all you people who want to control what I - a free adult in a free country - put into my own body: PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE. I'm not bothering you, and what your children do is YOUR problem, not mine. All you people are BUSYBODIES who get off on CONTROLLING other people and believe YOUR IRRATIONAL FEARS AND IGNORANCE should guide public policy because it makes you feel better. Marijuana smokers hurt no one except MAYBE themselves and that OUR RIGHT. Red meat kills people. Cars kill people. Alcohol and cigarettes kill people. Marijuana NEVER KILLED ANYONE. But you don't care about FACTS, only about pushing your BASELESS TABOOS down my throat. I'll say it again: LEAVE US ALONE. You don't like pot? Don't smoke it!

JD420
My Garage is for rent near 5 stores.

Medpot Advocate
Let's get rid of Council O'Donnell, Schipske, Delong and Lowenthal. Oh, and let's not forget the dictator mayor. They have no compassion, only Reefer Madness. Very sick people!

fred
why do so many people find it so horrible that some people use marijuana? i bet many of these same people are pounding down beer with some pain killers as they type this.

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LBPOST.com Managing Editor Ryan ZumMallen keeps up on all the current and breaking Long Beach news.

Ryan ZumMallen has served as the managing editor of the LBPOST.com since 2007. He graduated from CSULB with a degree in Print Journalism in 2008 and is a member of the 2009 class of Leadership Long Beach. You can find him on various basketball courts around the city.

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