Moratorium Extended on Marijuana Dispensaries

Any chance of a medical marijuana dispensary planting itself in Rancho Santa Margarita over the next year went up in smoke on Wednesday night.

The City Council of Rancho Santa Margarita quickly and unanimously extended a moratorium on such facilities setting up shop though Sept. 27, 2012.

Needing a 4/5ths majority, and with Carol Gamble absent because of an illness in her family, the council voted 4-0 to approve an interim urgency ordinance prohibiting marijuana dispensaries in the city for 10 months and 15 days.

The decision effectively extends another moratorium created by the council Sept. 28, which was set to last 45 days.

According to city attorney Greg Simonian, the Sept. 28 issue arose after the city received several inquiries about operating medical marijuana dispensaries within the city, and after it was discovered that two local marijuana dispensaries “operated initially in an illegal manner without appropriate permits.”

The two dispensaries, California Alternative Remedies and AMG, were in the Arbors business park and "as far as we can tell are no longer operating," Simonian said.

Simonian said that one of the reasons the city asked for more time is to allow city staff the time to study the issue thoroughly, especially because the legal situation regarding dispensaries is changing often.

“It was changing monthly, it’s now changing almost weekly,” Simonian said. “We’re getting more contradictory and conflicting court cases from a variety of different jurisdictions.”

After the vote, councilman Steve Baric said that the temporary moratorium was needed because the current state of marijuana dispensary law is in “such a state of flux.”

And, Baric said, “It gives the opportunity for the city attorney to investigate the issue, and get a sense of where to go, in terms of that kind of land use, in the future.”

Other business

• The city now has a twitter, youtube and flickr accounts. To see them, click cityofrsm.org and look to the right side of the page.  
• Officials honored the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Explorers and Reserve Volunteers  who helped out during the inaugural Labor Day Hyundai Hope on Wheels 5K Run and Walk that raised money to fund pediatric cancer research.
• Wolf Den Pack 688 led the pledge of allegiance.
• Carol Gamble was unable to attend because of an illness in her family.