Marijuana Measure Heats Up Months Before Del Mar Elections

Del Mar residents will soon have the opportunity to decide whether medical marijuana dispensaries should be allowed to operate within city limits. City officials, however, warn that passage at the polls may open Pandora ’s box.

If the initiative receives a majority vote during the November election, dispensaries would be permitted to open in the city’s commercial zoned areas. They would be required to be at least 600 feet from schools and playgrounds and at least 1,000 feet from each other.

Proponents point out that the use of medical marijuana provides substantial relief to people suffering from medical conditions such as cancer, HIV/AIDS and others. Failing to allow dispensaries to operate in Del Mar, they said, does little more than deny patients access to their medicine.

“I believe the current closest dispensary is in Hillcrest,” said Citizens for Patient Rights Campaign Consultant Cynara Velazquez. “Obviously having increased access is one of the most important issues but there are others as well. Having access to medical marijuana also reduces [sales from] the black market. Dispensaries displace drug dealers who don’t check ID cards and who also sell more addictive and more dangerous drugs that are not intended for medical use.”

Del Mar Deputy City Attorney Robert Mahlowitz, though, said the city continues to be concerned about potential legal ramifications should the initiative pass.

According to a report previously prepared for City Council, Mahlowitz notes dispensaries would be required to obtain a Del Mar business license. Yet at the same time, the city is prohibited from granting such a license to a business that operates in violation of state and federal law. The City Attorney’s office is also concerned that granting business licensure would jeopardize Del Mar’s eligibility to receive federal grant funding.

A July 17 letter sent to the city of Del Mar by U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy underscores other potential ramifications.

“State and city employees who conduct activities mandated by the [proposed] ordinance are not immune from liability under the Controlled Substances Act,” Duffy stated. “The United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) will evaluate all potential civil and criminal enforcement actions on a case-by-case basis.”

A spokesperson from the USAO declined to comment as to specific punishable actions or the potential legal consequences from engaging in them.

Velazquez dismisses those claims, suggesting it equates to little more than a scare tactic.

“No city has every lost grant funding because they have granted business licenses to medical marijuana dispensaries,” she said. “No city employees have ever been prosecuted.”

Mahlowitz said the purpose of their report “was to point out the initiative’s potential flaws and legal arguments, period.”

“It is not the job of [Citizens for Patient Rights] to protect the interest of the City of Del Mar and its residents. It is the job of the City Attorney’s office to look at the proposed legislation and provide some analysis of it and that is what we did,” Mahlowitz said. “There are many potential illegalities and this is an area of law that is still being developed. The people of Del Mar will need to decide whether this initiative is how they want to handle medical marijuana distribution in their city.”