That may change.
The City Council on Monday will take a step toward addressing that situation by looking at a zoning ordinance that could allow some of the medical marijuana collectives to remain, while forcing others to move or shut down.
Medical marijuana supporters have been increasing pressure on the council to tackle the zoning issue since June, just after the county approved its rules for dispensaries.
Pressure increased over the summer as code enforcement officials answered complaints about dispensaries from across the county, with many of the stores receiving cease and desist orders.
Medical marijuana dispensaries are not a permitted use according to the city’s current zoning code. The only way a dispensary could comply with city rules would be for it to shut its doors.
However, that has not been the case for most San Diego dispensaries.
Only two of the city’s collectives have been closed. The rest are open for business.
The city of San Diego and other local governments have struggled to deal with dispensaries after the California voters legalized medical marijuana in 1996. The boom of dispensaries in recent years have led to efforts for a comprehensive solution.
Frederick Aidan Remick, the director for the Association of Clinical Dispensaries, said many operators are scared of what the future holds for their businesses. “There’s a lot of confusion right now,” he said.
Most of the collectives were initially cited for violations like improper electrical wiring or walls built without a construction permit.
Remick said the dispensary he’s involved with, the Higher Healing Patient’s Association, received a notice that it violated a few building codes, and should shut down. But when he and his partners consulted their lawyer, who told him to just fix the violations and keep moving on.
The city code violations had no connection to high-profile arrests at some pot stores across the county over the past year where authorities said the drug was being dealt illegally and not for legitimate medical purposes.
Monday’s proceedings are preliminary for deciding the zoning rules that will determine which dispensaries stay and which go. If the council chooses to move forward, the rules will have to go through the planning commission and then back to council for an official vote.
City officials said it could be early 2011 before the zoning rules are finalized.
“I think it’s important to say that the goal is to provide the legal guidelines to allow members of the public to comply with the law,” Councilwoman Donna Frye said.
The city’s Medical Marijuana Task Force recommends dispensaries should only be allowed in commercial and industrial zones and must be at least 1,000 feet away from school, playgrounds and other areas children frequent as well as other dispensaries.
To put that into perspective, most city blocks in downtown San Diego are about 300 feet by 400 feet. In essence, there could be a dispensary every two and a half blocks, as long as each met the other criteria.
Also, all of the dispensaries would have to show proof of non-profit status before being able to attain a business license.
For now, Remick and the 18 dispensaries that belong to his organization are trying to take regulation into their own hands.
To become a member of the association, a dispensary must meet 14 guidelines. The first item on the list is that a dispensary should try to follow the proposed guidelines of the task force.
Others include a clean interior akin to a doctor’s office and a discreet outward appearance to blend in with the community. In other words, no members will have a giant neon marijuana leaf in their storefront window.
Remick said he thinks membership could grow to 40 or 50 dispensaries later this year.
Patients like Earnie Ashwood, an El Cajon resident who regularly goes to Green Tree Solutions in San Diego to get marijuana to treat his migraine headaches and insomnia, are concerned about the legal issues surrounding the dispensaries.
However, he said it doesn’t deter him from going.
“I’m really trying to do this as legally as possible,” he said. “Legality is huge for me because I don’t use it recreationally. I can’t just take Vicodin for my migraines.”
When the issue was discussed in March before the council’s land use and housing committee, only Councilman Tony Young voted against creating an ordinance to go to the full council.
Council members Sherri Lightner, Todd Gloria and Kevin Faulconer all voted to move forward with the ordinance, but made a few changes to the original recommendations.
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
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