A split city council rejected the idea of a medical marijuana
ordinance, effectively nixing an application to open a dispensary
and possibly inviting a lawsuit from the applicants, council
members and city officials said.
A split city council rejected the idea of a medical marijuana ordinance, effectively nixing an application to open a dispensary and possibly inviting a lawsuit from the applicants, council members and city officials said.
About 30 cannabis users, pastors, developers, lawyers, teachers and residents on both sides of the debate addressed the council for more than an hour Monday night. In the end, Mayor Al Pinheiro and Council members Bob Dillon, Cat Tucker and Dion Bracco voted against the idea of passing an ordinance regulating dispensaries, but at the request of Councilman Perry Woodward, the body voted 4-3 – with Bracco, Dillon and Tucker dissenting – to reconsider a draft ordinance in 90 days, after state courts establish more of a precedent.
State law permits medical marijuana dispensaries, but federal law prohibits cannabis across the board. Without a local law, City Attorney Linda Callon said staff are unable to process MediLeaf’s business application submitted last May. The applicants argued they deserve due process in front of the planning commission, which can impose project-specific conditions on unorthodox business applications.
One of many cases winding its way through state courts came from the Second District Court of Appeals last month. The court upheld a Claremont city ban on dispensaries, a move which suggests cities can bar citizens from setting up shops that are specifically permitted by state laws. In addition, the Los Angeles County District Attorney announced last week that prosecutors would pursue hundreds of “over the counter” collectives in the area that exchange marijuana for cash – a sticky situation Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Steve Lowney told the council it should avoid by working with District Attorney Dolores Carr on any proposed ordinance.
While the proposed ordinance regulates store hours, security requirements and products, council members said they were swayed to vote against it by an outpouring of e-mails and phone calls from constituents. They also expressed concerns of a dispensary inviting legal interference from above.
Woodward said he worried about the opposite – a lawsuit from MediLeaf applicants Batzi Kuburovich and Neil Forrest. Neither would say if they were prepared to sue the city and declined to comment further after Monday night’s meeting.
Others involved readily offered their opinions, including Eric Madigan, a cannabis industry consultant and lobbyist who drove up from Los Angeles for the “conservative” conversation. Afterward, he said he was disappointed with the “fear tactics” and “talking points” – including the argument that marijuana is a gateway drug – voiced by dispensary opponents. He also bristled at the notion that people with cannabis prescriptions should drive to Santa Cruz or Oakland to get their medication.
“You wouldn’t ask somebody who has diabetes to drive 50 miles to get their insulin,” Madigan said. “I think this community needs to look up the definition of compassion.”
Gilroy resident Kelley-Jo Wendlandt agreed. For the past eight years, she has smoked medical marijuana or eaten laced brownies to relieve the pain of a debilitating and worsening spinal condition. She and her husband – who is also her legal caretaker – drive to Santa Cruz for medical marijuana, and have been waiting for a local dispensary to open.
Las Animas Elementary School Home and School Club President Lisa Correnti and local real estate agent Susan Jacobsen, whose sister died from cancer, both said the community needs more opportunity to consider a dispensary.
“I don’t know a whole lot about this,” Correnti said. “Us parents just want to know more.”
Correnti said she came to the meeting because of a phone call from Ron Kirkish, a local resident who spent weeks before the meetings calling businesses and community leaders to encourage them to oppose the dispensary.
“People drive 40 miles to get their chemo and radiation – they can drive 40 miles to get their marijuana,” Jacobsen said.
Councilman Craig Gartman said that reminded him of residents 10 years ago who opposed Wal-Mart and Costco in Gilroy because comparable stores existed nearby.
Dispensary opponents also complained of doctors over-prescribing marijuana, and pointed to an April 2009 report by the California Police Chiefs Association. The report found 52 percent of customers purchasing marijuana were between 17 and 30 years old, according to patient records seized from six dispensaries during warrant searches. Only 2.5 percent of patients submitted a doctor’s recommendation for AIDS, glaucoma or cancer.
“I have friends whose sons have ADD, and they can get a card,” Jacobsen said.
Councilman Arellano, a physician, said he wouldn’t stand for people maligning the medical profession. Forrest chalked up most of it to fear.
“What I’ve heard here is fear, uncertainty and doubt … Salespeople use this tactic to move us away from stance or opinion,” Forrest said.
He added in jest that Pinocchio’s Pizza, which stands next door to MediLeaf’s proposed location at Ninth and Monterey streets, will actually make more money thanks to MediLeaf patrons. The pizza parlor’s owner, Tony Oliveri, said he opposes a dispensary next door because of potential burglaries, among other concerns.
Gilroy Unified School District trustee Denise Apuzzo said medical marijuana, while open to some abuse, provided relief to AIDS victims in New York’s Greenwich Village during the 1980s – where she volunteered – and to a family member with cancer. She acknowledged cannabis as a gateway drug, but so is alcohol, she said.
“I guess the most obvious gateway drug is alcohol, but I don’t see anyone suggesting we close down Gilroy’s wineries,” Apuzzo said to applause. “That’s like saying we’re not going to sell Sharpie markers or spray paint (because of vandalism).”
Kuburovich, whose father used marijuana before dying in 2005 from prostate cancer, provided statistics showing there have been no recorded deaths from marijuana use. About 435,000 and 85,000 people die annually from tobacco use and alcohol, respectively, according to the American Medical Association.
“I’m doing this with all the love in my heart. You have all gotten to know me, and I don’t think fear of uncertainties should be a motivating factor here,” he said. “Some people will mention Gilroy will be known for cannabis. No it won’t. Gilroy is known for garlic.”
Hoping to keep it that way, Pastor Malcolm MacPhail of New Hope Community Church addressed the council as a representative of the South County Ministerial Association, which represents more than 30 churches in the area generally opposed to a dispensary. He described worshipers who began smoking marijuana before crime and drug use consumed their lives. His stance led him to avoid using cannabis during his bout with leukemia in 1994, he said.
“I fought for seven years and had a bone marrow transplant and took the maximum dosage the human body can handle for chemo and full body radiation. I had second degree burns all over my body,” he said. “During all that time, there was the opportunity to experience medical relief through marijuana, but I was also told there were alternative drugs in the medical community, so I didn’t have to resort to that.”
Acknowledging both sides, Gartman said he hoped for a more open dialogue when the council reconsiders the ordinance again in 90 days.
“I think we need to think a little bit beyond our own comfort zone,” he said.
