Zoning Plan Targets Pot Dispensary

THOUSAND OAKS â€”  Ventura County’s only medical marijuana outlet could go up in smoke if the Thousand Oaks City Council on Tuesday approves a restrictive zoning regulation.

Council members will be asked to shut down the Ventura County Medical Cannabis Center in Thousand Oaks and make it impossible for another marijuana dispensary to open in the city.

“What we believe state law says is that people can grow [marijuana] for themselves or have a consistent primary caregiver grow it for them,� Deputy City Atty. James T. Friedl said, referring to the state’s medical marijuana initiative, Proposition 215, which voters approved in 1996. “But it does not allow for a retail marijuana shop.�

The zoning changes recommended in a staff report by Friedl would allow only hospitals and pharmacies to sell medical marijuana with a special-use permit.

His report suggests that only patients and those who care for them be allowed to grow cannabis for treatment of ailments including cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

Nowhere in the proposed regulation is there a provision for a pot outlet, such as Andrea Nagy’s Ventura County Medical Cannabis Center. If approved, the law would not take effect for about two months. Friedl also will ask council members to give his office the authority to “begin legal proceedings� to shut down Nagy’s dispensary.

In an interview, Nagy called the proposal half-baked.

“It’s impossible to comply with this [proposal] when you’re not allowed [to operate] anywhere,� said Nagy, a part-time legal secretary who smokes marijuana for her chronic migraines. “This zones me out. It’s a blatant obstruction of state law, which 56% of California voters approved. Now they won’t be heard.�

Two council members reached last week agreed with the zoning changes at first glance. The other three--including Councilwomen Elois Zeanah and Linda Parks, who previously voted against closing Nagy’s outlet--could not be reached for comment.

“I put great stock in what the city attorney has to say,� Councilwoman Judy Lazar said Friday. “If he says we can do this, then I’m willing to do this. I think the great concern with a medical marijuana facility is that there be proper supervision. . . . I would be far more comfortable with a primary caregiver affiliated with a physician, a hospital or even a pharmacy dispensing it.�

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Nagy and her 58 clients will try to convince the council that a right to use marijuana medicinally is meaningless if the drug cannot legally be bought close to home.

“There is an obvious need in the community, and the people will express it on Tuesday,� said Nagy, who opened her dispensary in September with half a dozen clients--or patients, as she calls them. “I think people who didn’t take sides on the issue previously are starting to be offended that their rights are being trampled.�

The proposed zoning would ban medical marijuana dispensaries such as Nagy’s altogether. But it would allow a primary caregiver, such as a family member or a close friend who cares for an ill person, to grow and provide medicinal marijuana to the patient.

“A ‘marijuana primary caregiver’ is not someone who merely maintains a supply of marijuana, from which anyone may purchase the drug by simply designating their marijuana supplier a ‘primary caregiver,’ � Friedl writes in the report. “There must be . . . a closer tie between the marijuana supplier and patient, such as a long-term relationship.�

A state-licensed hospital or pharmacy would be allowed to supply marijuana under the proposed regulations.

Under the proposed rules, any marijuana used in an authorized facility could not be grown on public property, open fields or private property that is open to the public.

Anyone wishing to provide marijuana, other than patients growing their own as medicine or primary caregivers serving only one person, would have to acquire a special-use permit.

Mayor Mike Markey endorsed the new rules and said he would “vote to give the city attorney the authority to do what he has to do under the municipal code.

“This has nothing to do with Andrea Nagy personally,� Markey said Friday. “It has to do with marijuana dispensaries. We have to get the personal-ness out of it.�

Nagy said she was skeptical about the legality of the proposed regulations. The city’s proposed definition of a primary caregiver--the person authorized to provide marijuana under Proposition 215--is too narrow, she said.

City leaders have failed to muster the council’s support for a moratorium on marijuana businesses.

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However, Nagy has been denied a certificate of occupancy for her dispensary by the city. The document would allow her to apply for permits enabling her to expand and install a watering system for her crop of marijuana plants.

Two council members--Markey and Andy Fox--have sent a letter requesting that federal authorities intervene, but nothing has come of the plea.

Meanwhile, the doors of the cannabis center remain open.

“They couldn’t shut me down the first time� with the failed moratorium, Nagy said Friday. “They couldn’t do it with the back-stabbing letter. So now, let’s try again with a staff report.�