Marijuana facilities blocked

Alicia Robinson

The City Council has joined the phalanx of cities that have at least

temporarily blocked anyone from opening a medical marijuana facility,

and Costa Mesa may not be far behind.

The Newport Beach City Council voted Tuesday to put a 45-day

moratorium on establishment of dispensaries that distribute marijuana

for medical use. The council voted 6-0; Don Webb was absent.

Forty-five days gives city officials time to figure out how medical

marijuana facilities should be regulated, something that isn’t

spelled out in existing city codes.

Whether medical marijuana is legal or not is a cloudy issue.

California voters in 1996 approved a law permitting people to use

marijuana for medical reasons, but that could be trumped by a federal

law that is the subject of an ongoing U.S. Supreme Court debate.

But recent inquiries about opening dispensaries have prompted a

number of cities to issue temporary bans while they puzzle out where

and how the facilities should be operated, if at all.

For many, it’s a new question, and people tend to get jumpy about

anything that has to do with drugs, Newport Beach Mayor Steve

Bromberg said.

“We’ve never dealt with it. It has never even been an issue,” he

said before Tuesday’s meeting. “I think [the moratorium] is more

precautionary than anything else.”

The issue cropped up Monday in Costa Mesa, when the city’s

Planning Commission voted to recommend that the City Council issue a

moratorium, then consider an ordinance that would allow the

dispensaries under certain conditions, subject to review by the

commission.

The Costa Mesa City Council will discuss medical marijuana

dispensaries June 21.

State law requires a doctor’s recommendation to obtain medical

marijuana, but that hasn’t quelled concerns about problems associated

with illegal drugs -- addiction, robbery, fighting. The Costa Mesa

Planning Commission was split on the issue, with the losing side

hoping for an across-the-board ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

“I think they’re absolutely not necessary,” Costa Mesa Planning

Commission Chairman Bill Perkins said. “We do have one in Anaheim.

That’s close enough.”

Commissioner Bruce Garlich agreed with Perkins, saying if

marijuana has any real medical value, people should seek another way

to deliver its benefits, such as a pill.

“It seems to me there’s a lot of alternatives for getting the

benefit of this without setting up legal marijuana head shops in our

city,” Garlich said.

While Bromberg said he hasn’t heard any concerns about medical

marijuana facilities from Newport Beach residents, people in

Newport-Mesa are likely to start taking notice of the issue --

especially now that a facility may open in neighboring Huntington

Beach.