Final Tally of Defeated Pot Proposal to be Posted Tuesday

Photo credit: Wiki Commons

By City News Service

The final ballot count from Tuesday’s election in Riverside will be posted next week, but the results were not expected to change the outcome, with a proposal to legalize mobile and storefront medical marijuana dispensaries rejected by a wide margin.

Returns were updated Friday and showed Measure A received 14,621 votes against, 60 percent, and 9,751 votes in favor, 40 percent.

The Riverside County Registrar of Voters’ Office said only a small number of provisional ballots are left to count, and all the results will be certified by 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The election was by mail-in ballot only. A total of 117,064 ballots were mailed out.

All members of the Riverside City Council, the city’s police chief and the fire chief opposed Measure A, characterizing it as a threat to public safety.

“Medical marijuana dispensaries can attract crime, including shootings and robberies,” the opponents wrote in a campaign statement.

“Measure A permits mobile medical marijuana sales and home deliveries, potentially bringing crime directly to your neighborhood. The measure allows dispensaries to sell marijuana-infused products, like candy, cookies and brownies, which are highly attractive to children and minors.”

The opposition predicted that crime would climb wherever dispensaries open, and taxpayers would foot the bill for increased police patrols and investigations.

The man spearheading the campaign in favor of Measure A -- Riverside resident Michael Eppolito -- dismissed the opposition as waging a fear- mongering campaign.

Eppolito pointed out that the proposal mandated that storefront dispensaries hire private security personnel to deter criminals, that all dispensaries be located a minimum of 1,000 feet from a school, and that no marijuana product be sold to anyone unless the individual is an adult with a valid prescription for medicinal cannabis.

Measure A was in direct response to a May 2013 ruling by the California Supreme Court that found Riverside’s prohibitions against mobile and storefront dispensaries justifiable under the doctrine of local control.

The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit by the Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center against Riverside, after the city enacted zoning and land- use provisions preventing cannabis clubs and collectives from opening distribution outlets.

The plaintiffs argued that voter-approved Proposition 215 -- the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 -- and the state’s Medical Marijuana Program made total bans on dispensaries unlawful.

However, the state’s High Court determined that “nothing expressly or impliedly limits the inherent authority of a local jurisdiction” to decide the types of operations “permitted within its borders.”

About 200 jurisdictions throughout California have dispensary bans on their books, while roughly 50, including Palm Springs, permit the operation of dispensaries with certain restrictions.