Aaron Mannis is a political science major at San Diego State University. The legalization of marijuana has been one of the most controversial issues in America during recent election cycles. With two more states (Oregon and Alaska) and Washington, D.C. legalizing recreational marijuana in the recent election, the issue is more prominent than ever. Recently, President Obama pledged to cease federal interference in state-level marijuana issues. Hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries have opened in San Diego County in the last few years, making San Diego one of the biggest hubs of the medical marijuana industry in the United States. Despite this, local governments have resisted the boom and have cracked down on local shops. Citing nearly impossible-to-observe zoning laws and other legal obstacles, the city has shut the doors of more than 200 dispensaries in recent months. Whereas more continue to set up shop around the city, several more were shut down. This constant quarrel does not seem to be coming to a halt anytime soon. When there is no legal backing for citing zoning laws in order to close the shops, the city has been known to harass landlords, sending inspectors to dig up any building violations and stack up numerous fines if the shop owners are not evicted. The shop owners struggle to find new locations due to intimidated landlords, who are wary of having medical marijuana shops as tenants due to city harassment. If a new location can be found in rare legal zoning boundaries, businesses have to move their entire operations to new locations, sometimes impossible for a newly opened shop. Shockingly, out of the hundreds of dispensaries around the city, there is only one in all San Diego County (located in El Cajon) recognized as a legal operation by the city. Why is the city of San Diego so grudging to accept medical marijuana, which is becoming only more normal on a national level? If any city should understand the benefit of regulating marijuana and keeping it out of illegal street operations, it should be San Diego, with its long involvement fighting Tijuana drug cartels. The State of California legalized medical marijuana in 1996 by public vote – and in 2014, the city of San Diego needs to wake up to the reality that public opinion has moved in favor of marijuana (especially medical) and quit its shameful display of finding ways to criminalize something that has been legal for years.