Marijuana Under Fire in Long Beach, California

Zamna Avila, Assistant Editor

For months after 2010 New Year, City Hall and community members grappled with an ordinance to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries.

In March, council members narrowly voted on the law to regulate provisions of the Compassionate Use Act. The law, which went into effect in July, stipulated that dispensaries must have 1,000-foot buffer zones between marijuana collectives, away from in residential zones and at least 1,500 feet from high schools and 1,000 feet of middle schools and elementary schools.

By May, the Long Beach City Council approved a $14,742 non-refundable application fee for collectives. Thereafter, collectives compliant with the March-approved ordinance were put into a lottery of sorts to determine which ones could stay open in accordance with the ordinance stipulation that collectives be 1,000 away from each other. On top of the application fee, collectives would have to pay annual regulatory permit fees based on the number of patients or caregivers served by the collective after the lottery.

As marijuana proponents attempted to legalize and regulate marijuana through the statewide Proposition 19, the city prepared to cash in on marijuana through a local taxation measure, Measure B, during the November election. Alas, Prop. 19 failed, marijuana use for recreational purposes still is illegal in California and that avenue for city revenue was closed.

But the controversy of regulating marijuana did not end in November. Before the year ended, the city council passed a first reading of an amendment to the medical marijuana ordinance that would eliminate about a dozen more collectives (collectives were reduced from about 90 or so to 32 after the lottery). The new changes to the ordinance included a 1,000-foot buffer zone to parks, excluding beaches, each collective must install and maintain video surveillance outside of the grounds to be provided upon request to the Long Beach Police Department, collectives may only operate between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. and a one-year moratorium would be established on new applications starting immediately, among other provisions.

"The current ordinance is still undergoing review and revisions,” said Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell. “Our City government is diligently working to craft the best possible ordinance to meet all needs. Our Department’s position has not changed.

“The caution remains that, while the Compassionate Use Act was designed for people who were dealing with chemotherapy and illnesses that are potentially terminal to make their lives more comfortable, there has been tremendous abuse of medical marijuana. We have seen a lot of people making a significant amount of money when the intent of the Compassionate Use Act was a not for-profit business. What has happened in practice was not the intent of the Compassionate Use Act."