Medical marijuana dispensary operators appear to be mostly mum following the City Council\u2019s decision April 12 to adopt restrictions on the centers, mandating the shops be located in industrial zones and that they apply for a conditional-use permit. Requests for comment were met with no response from the Green Light Collective and the OB Collective \u2014 both in Ocean Beach. The restrictions in the medical marijuana ordinance may cause most businesses to close shop \u2014 at least temporarily. The ordinance takes effect within three weeks, and the council\u2019s vote was a second reading to make it official. “Realistically, the city cannot close up shops right away,” said District 7 City Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who seconded the motion by District 3 Councilman Todd Gloria to pass the ordinance. “As of today, our zoning laws do not allow for collectives,” said Gloria. “This is certainly more restrictive than I like.” Emerald said the ordinance was not a ban, adding that there are industrial areas in every district where dispensaries can be located. Under the ordinance, dispensaries must be located 600 feet away from schools, libraries, parks, and churches. Medical marijuana collectives must also operate as nonprofits and are required to have some type of security system. They can operate between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. seven days a week. The ordinance also allows patients with a state identification card to possess one pound of pot. Patients can also grow 24 marijuana plants, depending on their doctor\u2019s recommendation. Joining Gloria and Emerald in approving the measure were council President Tony Young and councilmembers Kevin Faulconer of District 2 and Sherri Lightner of District 1. Councilmembers Lori Zapf and David Alvarez cast dissenting votes. Carl DeMaio was absent when the vote was taken but he voted against it March 28. The council heard hours of debate by those for and against the restrictions, but when they voted, about a dozen pro-dispensary people ran to the dais, causing momentary confusion. Councilmembers quickly left after the vote. The protestors began singing “We Shall Overcome” and wore T-shirts reading “Stop the Ban.” San Diego police officers made their presence known by walking in the area, but did not intervene. Councilmembers had to cast a second vote, however, and returned about five minutes later as the protesters sang loudly and off-key. They voted 5-2 a second time, and then left while some of the protesters stayed \u2014\u00a0even after the meeting was over. One woman was briefly handcuffed, then released. Six protesters stood their ground for several minutes, and then one of them left. Five members of the group sang and sat down in council chambers for more than two hours after the meeting was over. “We demand safe access to medical marijuana,” the protestors changed. “Amend this ordinance to meet the people\u2019s need.” The protestors appeared to be in their early twenties. The lights were eventually turned off, leaving the five in the dark. About 30 minutes later, they all left without arrest. “Thank you for not doing your job!” yelled one woman outside. Officers chose to take the high road, said one police official. “They were mad we didn\u2019t arrest them,” said Lt. Roy Moody afterward. “The San Diego Police Department supports their First Amendment right to protest.” California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996 that allows patients to use marijuana if they have a doctor\u2019s written recommendation. It is illegal under federal law to transport, possess or cultivate marijuana.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Medical marijuana dispensary operators appear to be mostly mum following the City Council\u2019s decision April 12 to adopt restrictions on the centers, mandating the shops be located in industrial zones and that they apply for a conditional-use permit. Requests for comment were met with no response from the Green Light Collective and the OB Collective […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"City drops hammer on pot clinics","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11593,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-no-images","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}