On Tuesday, the Anaheim City Council voted unanimously to ban mobile medical marijuana dispensaries — what, in states without medical marijuana laws, would be known as a drug dealer selling weed from a car.
Medical reefer is shaping up to be an electoral fight on next year’s Anaheim municipal ballot. In May, the California Supreme Court ruled that municipalities have every right to ban medical marijuana dispensaries. I agree with the court. Furthermore, the question of whether a city or county has the right to impose such a ban is totally separate from whether such bans are good public policy (which I think they are).
In any case, medical pot interests have formed a campaign committee called Anaheim Safe Access that presumably will seek to qualify a pro-medicinal reefer initiative on next year’s June or November ballot.
Since the state Supreme Court has given cities the green light, the Anaheim City Council simply acted on its long-standing position of banning medical marijuana dispensaries. Per the staff report from the item:
Not only do these mobile dispensaries pose the same problems and issues as storefront MMDs, but they have been associated with additional criminal activity targeting their unique method of operations. Delivery drivers, for example, are been reported in mainstream media as targets of armed robbers who seek cash and drugs. As a result, many of the drivers reportedly carry weapons or have armed guards as protection. There are numerous reported incidents of violent confrontations between delivery drivers and individuals targeting those drivers. Compared to “brick and mortar” MMDs which mainly operate in commercial areas and have known locations, there is thus the potential that violence related to these type of services may intrude (with little ability of law enforcement to monitor such activity) into residential neighborhoods where deliveries occur.
In summary, the evidence indicates that i) at least some of the shuttered storefront MMDs in Anaheim will likely convert to a mobile delivery model in order to circumvent the City’s ban on brick and mortar dispensaries, and ii) there are already a significant number of marijuana delivery services offering deliveries to Anaheim residents. The proliferation of these mobile dispensaries will not only pose the same health and safety risks as storefront dispensaries, but will present additional risks caused by the mobile nature of their business model. Accordingly, the City Attorney’s Office is of the opinion that the immediate adoption of an ordinance banning mobile medical
marijuana dispensaries is necessary to preserve the public peace, health and safety. Section 511 of the City Charter permits the City Council to adopt this ordinance as an urgency measure to become effective immediately for and based on the reasons set forth in the attached ordinance.
Liberals and libertarians tend to see medical marijuana as a bright-line freedom issue. Most people (myself included) do not share that view, and recognize the negative societal and moral impacts of drug use, which liberals and libertarians seem to think will magically go “poof” is marijuana is legalized.
Democratic Party representative Jeff Laterno stated during public comments Tuesday night, “I will give money to the drug cartels to get marijuana!” He said he needs it because he can’t sleep at night without it. Jeff Laterno is a drug addict. I had five friends die from acquired immune deficiency syndrome during the eighties and nineties and none of them used marijuana. Marijuana makes people lazy and stupid! I have seen too many lives ruined because of marijuana because it makes people unproductive and unemployed.
Dude, where’s my car!
Anything to keep Paul Lucas away. Wonder how his court hearing went today. His trial on felony drug possession with intent to sell while in possession of a firearm starts next month. Paul is a poster child for stronger gun control. No one that unstable should have a weapon
In response to Article writer, the delivery service are by no means similar to criminal drug dealing, you’re looking at it backwards. The people who should be getting the heat are the people robbing the delivery drivers. How sad is it that a man may be robbed and shot for trying to deliver MEDICINE to someone who needs it for their own personal sake. In short you seem to be confusing who the real scum is. Delivery services could potentially get that medicine to someone who otherwise could not drive out and get it, which may save their lives…if you think that’s a bad thing then i guess to each their own.
In response to both the article writer and Mr.Reade i am sorry but you are incorrect. I lived the first 19 years of my life like you, believing marijuana was bad, i even hated it so much that without even considering their feelings i discriminated against potheads. However i began loosing health and became unproductive at about 21 due to a late onset of many neurological disorders, kinda lost the genetic lottery soto speak, i was 21, weighed 90 pounds(male) was horribly pale and didnt have the energy to do anything at all. Marijuana saved my life, i am now 27 with a very good GPA in college 2 years from getting my masters i have a part time job that i work very hard at, i weigh about 140 pounds now all because of using marijuana which gave me my appetite back, my confidence back, my motivation back and my life back. The people who sit around and smoke pot all day and do NOTHING probably would have done nothing without the pot because every pothead i know works harder than most people i have ever met, dont believe what you see in the movies.
Also marijuana isnt addictive just so you know…and immune deficiency syndrome from pot? hate to tell you bud but that wasnt the pot, sure your “friends” werent into some other chemical? Also could you provide proof/evidence that immune deficiency syndrome is caused by marijuana because the medical journals i have read say otherwise. google it.
Godbless.