Weed Whacked
The P.G. City Council votes to ban medical marijuana facilities.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The vote was 5 to 2 for banning dispensaries at the council's Sept. 1 meeting, with Lisa Bennett and Robert Huitt dissenting.
Earlier this year, the city council appeared eager to regulate medical cannabis, paving the way for dispensaries to operate in the city. Then came a groundswell of opposition, and some former medical marijuana supporters changed their minds, including City Councilman Alan Cohen.
"My personal opinion is that they're good," Cohen says. "And I believe in the Compassionate Use Act (which voters approved in 1996 to make medical marijuana available)...but I represent all the people in P.G....and it doesn't seem to have a lot of support."
Cohen says his emails ran 10 to 1 against allowing pot facilities in the city.
It is still unclear whether cities have the legal right to ban medical pot. An appeals court failed to settle the issue as expected last month, delaying the final decision by at least a year. But City Attorney David Laredo says, "Our ordinance will stand unless somebody challenges it."
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