Tonight, March 16th, the Ocean Beach Planning Board is holding a Special Meeting on the new proposed ordinance regulating Medical Marijuana dispensaries that is going before the San Diego City Council. If passed in its current form, the ordinance would effectively ban all dispensaries in Ocean Beach and throughout most of San Diego.
The special public forum is at 6:30 pm at the OB Recreation Center, at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue. The Board is requesting that OBcians attend and give them views of the community on this issue. The Board will probably take a position at the end of the forum and pass it on to the City.
The proposed ordinance is expected to go before the full City Council on Monday, March 28th.
The restrictions in the new ordinance go way beyond those recommended by the Medical Marijuana Task Force, and would limit dispensaries in the following ways:
- No dispensary within 1,000 feet of a place of worship;
- No dispensary within 1,000 feet of any park;
- No dispensary within 1,000 feet of any school;
- No dispensary within 1,000 feet of any playground;
- No dispensary within 1,000 feet of any library;
- No dispensary within 1,000 feet of any childcare facility or youth facility;
- No dispensary within 1,000 feet of any other dispensary;
- Dispensaries only allowed in three commercial zones: commercial regional, commercial office, and commercial community – and only if no residential uses are permitted;
- Dispensaries would be required to obtain a Process 4 conditional-use permit – to be approved by the City Council;
- Dispensaries would be required to show proof of their non-profit status;
- Dispensaries would be required to only operate between the hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week;
- There would be no “grandparenting” of current operating dispensaries.
These restricting would doom any dispensaries from operating in Ocean Beach at all, despite the popular passage of the Medical Marijuana law – Prop 215 – by the people of the State of California 15 years ago, and despite the over 3 million California voters who approved of direct legalization of marijuana last Fall.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
the city ordinance will also require operators to sacrifice several pink wombats at the altar of the district atty; and give 2 quarts of blood to the mayor’s campaign for well fed vampires.
I’m tired of the controversy. As an asthmastic and former pot smoker, I don’t support smoking of any kind. As one who believes in the medical place of marijuana, I don’t support outsourcing this medicine to “dispensaries” at least one of which O.B. one appears to be cartel run. As one who believes that one should be able to consume marijuana without a prescription, I don’t support “medical marijuana” as the sole legal means of access. And, since anus-intrusive Federal law proscribes marijuana use I can’t get excited about what happens anywhere in California that caters to the delusion of legality.
Well-stated, Robert. There’s a camp out there who decries this whole ‘medical marijuana’ thing as an impediment to the true goal, which should be open and free access for anyone. Others feel that it’s at least some progress in the right direction. I’m just standing on the sideline and observing – we know California isn’t quite ready for full-scale decriminalization, so this is what we get for now.
I’m sure you’re aware, however, that the popular methods of cannabis injection in the medical community are vaporizing and distillation into tinctures, salves, and edibles…and I’d like to hear what you know about a ‘cartel run’ dispensary in town.
Oops…should be ‘cannabis ingestion’ – I don’t know of anyone actually injecting THC.
I agree with Dave, please provide more information about what “cartel run” dispensary is operating in OB. Thank you! :-)
I’d like to know too, I like to keep my money local.
Activist San Diego is sponsoring a meeting at the Joyce Beers Center on Monday, the 21st at 7 p.m. It will be a “discussion on the upcoming medical cannabis ordinance.”
The Center is near the Trader Joe’s in Hillcrest.