San Diego City Council Approves Additional Regulations on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

After four hours of testimony from the community, the San Diego City Council voted Monday to approve two ordinances that would place greater restrictions and oversight on medical marijuana cooperatives and their operators.

Marijuana dispensaries are now restricted to light industrial and commercial areas of the city and must be at least 600 feet from homes and other sensitive areas. The second ordinance requires additional public safety requirements including requiring operators to be fingerprinted.

The vote passed 5-2. Council members Carl DeMaio and Lorie Zapf dissented. Councilman David Alvarez was absent.

The proposal initially considered by the council would have kept dispensaries 1,000 feet from schools, parks, churches, child care centers, libraries and other medical marijuana cooperatives, but an amendment by Councilman Todd Gloria reduced the distance to 600 feet, similar to limitations on liquor stores.

The only medical marijuana dispensary operating in the Mount Helix Patch coverage area is The Green Lantern, 8783 Troy St. in Spring Valley.

Gloria said the new regulations will end “15 years of uncertainty” since California’s Compassionate Use Act became law. Gloria said the current environment allowed marijuana dispensaries to flourish in San Diego without rules, pitting neighborhoods against patients seeking safe access to marijuana.

The new public safety regulation states any person convicted of a violent felony in the past seven years will not be allowed to operate a cooperative under the new ordinances, which also set packaging and labeling requirements for medical marijuana edible products. It also allows the city to conduct background checks and audit the cooperatives' operations.

Before concluding, council President Tony Young requested that the mayor's office return to council within 30 days with a plan for the public safety ordinance that would identify, among other things, which department will take the lead on reviewing and approving the public safety permit applications; which department will handle each of the permitting requirements not handled by the lead agency; and which department will handle any appeals, as well as a fee structure for permits.

Dispensary operators and marijuana patients argued the proposed regulations were too restrictive, while many contended the new regulations do not go far enough.

Many advocates who viewed the new ordinances as a "de facto ban" attended a rally downtown before the vote. The City Council chambers was filled to capacity at the start of the afternoon meeting, and a second room was set up for those unable to find seats inside the main chamber.

City News Services contributed to this report.