Buzz surrounds city’s pot debate

Soon -- perhaps as early as Tuesday -- Costa Mesa will likely put the

lid on any chance this town will one day be home to medical marijuana

dispensaries. As soon as the City Council says no to the dope

emporiums -- either through a land-use moratorium or an outright

prohibition -- we can at least stop fearing a run on Doritos at the

local market.

Since 1996, when California voters expressed their collective chi

by approving Proposition 215 (the Compassionate Use Act), it has been

legal under state law for seriously ill Californians to cultivate or

otherwise obtain marijuana for medicinal use, so long as their

doctors are cool with it. Once voters gave patients the OK to toke,

marijuana dispensaries began springing up around the state like so

many mushrooms (and I don’t mean the kind that make you see colors).

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws lists more

than 120 dispensaries, co-ops and other pot providers in California.

But here’s the conundrum. The federal Controlled Substances Act

prohibits the manufacture and distribution of all sorts of drugs,

including marijuana. That prohibition includes marijuana for medical

purposes even if a doctor has recommended reefer to a patient. Just

last month, the U.S. Supreme Court turned the screws even more,

ruling that the feds have all the authority they need to prohibit the

cultivation and possession of marijuana for personal medical use,

even if state law permits it.

Days after the June ruling, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency

launched a massive crackdown on medical marijuana providers, mostly

in Northern California (San Francisco and Sacramento were the biggest

targets).

The running shootout between California’s medical marijuana law

and the federal government’s strict enforcement of the Controlled

Substances Act has many California cities that are attempting to

strictly regulate or prohibit pot dispensaries caught in the

crossfire.

Costa Mesa is one of them. Since May, the city has been noodling

on a proposed ordinance that would prohibit medical marijuana

dispensaries as a land use. Councilwomen Linda Dixon and Katrina

Foley voted against the outright prohibition, staking out

California’s side (or seemingly so) in the states’ rights versus

federal authority debate, where medical pot is concerned. They prefer

a moratorium to give the city time to work out regulations to allow

marijuana dispensaries, which is the track most California counties

and cities have taken.

Mayor Allan Mansoor and Councilmen Gary Monahan and Eric Bever

favor an outright prohibition. That’s likely to be the outcome when

the ordinance is put before the council for a final vote at its

meeting Tuesday or on Aug. 2. When it occurs, Costa Mesa will be only

one of three California cities banning medical marijuana

dispensaries.

Banning medical pot outlets seems the wiser choice. That’s because

the June U.S. Supreme Court ruling, affirming the federal

government’s authority to prohibit the cultivation and possession of

marijuana for personal medical use, clearly emboldened federal law

enforcement agencies to begin the aggressive shuttering of marijuana

dispensaries.

Which spurs the question: Why invest any additional city resources

in developing laws to govern businesses the federal government is

likely to shut down?

The answer is that the city shouldn’t.

* BYRON DE ARAKAL is a writer and public affairs consultant

residing in Costa Mesa. Readers may leave a message for him on the

Daily Pilot hotline at (714) 966-4664 or contact him at

[email protected].