Ban extended on new medicinal marijuana dispensaries

By JOSHUA MOLINA —June 3, 2009

With tears in his eyes, Gustavo Litvin got down on his knees and clasped his hands together in front of the Goleta City Council. His voice breaking up, Litvin made a plea.

“Please don’t take my life away,” said Litvin, 27, who has Crohn’s Disease. “Don’t take my medicinal marijuana away. Please have some compassion.”

Breaking the hearts of several medicinal marijuana users in the audience, the Goleta City Council last night voted to extend a ban on new medicinal marijuana dispensaries. The vote essentially continued the moratorium on new dispensaries first approved by the council nearly two years ago. The moratorium was set to expire on Aug. 30. The council was fearful that if it did not take action and extend the ban that the city would be flooded with applications for dispensaries.

But not all hope is lost for medicinal marijuana users. The Goleta City Council also agreed to vote this fall on an ordinance allowing dispensaries, but with heavy regulations still to be determined. The city staff will analyze a new ordinance and bring it back to the council.

Since the 1996 passage of Proposition 215 in California, which legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, advocates on both sides of the issue have been locked in a debate over the ethics of using medical marijuana.

Because federal law still bans such a practice, local communities are conflicted about whether to allow dispensaries or ban them outright. With the legality in question, communities up and down the state are waging war over dispensaries one city at a time.

In Goleta, there is currently one legal commercial dispensary and one known illegal dispensary operating out of a home in a residential neighborhood. The ban would not affect the legal commercial dispensary from continuing to operate.

Medicinal marijuana advocates, many of whom wore T-shirts that said “I am not a criminal,” talked emotional about how dispensary workers are often their saviors.

“These people mean a lot to me,” said Fred Kapp. “They come to my house. I don’t want to have to go to the (San Fernando) Valley or 200 miles away to the north to get my meds. It’s not fair.”

On the whole, the Goleta City Council expressed compassion for the medicinal marijuana users.

“This law was passed by the people of the state of California,” said Councilman Michael Bennett. “I am not going to stand in the way of the people’s vote. Whether I like it or don’t like it is immaterial.

Councilman Eric Onnen too said he was not convinced that a permanent ban was necessary. He said he needed to see evidence from law enforcement that the dispensaries were creating unusual amounts of crime reports in the area. He saw no such evidence and therefore came to the conclusion that the dispensaries are doing more good than harm.

“As a decision-maker, for me, if part of the rationale (for a ban) is increased crime, I don’t have enough data to make that decision,” Onnen said.

Onnen, the owner of Santa Barbara Airbus, said he is concerned about the medicinal marijuana patients.

“The concept of compassion does strike the heartstrings for me,” Onnen said.

Other advocates who spoke were upset that continuing the ban on new dispensaries would directly benefit the one commercial dispensary in business – essentially eliminating its competition in Goleta.

“Growing is really not an option,” said advocate Lisa Blanco. “Without dispensaries, people who need to get it might have to do it illegally.”

Other speakers said it was unfair to go against the will of the people. Mark Russell, operator of Grass Roots Research in Goleta, stormed out of the meeting after last night’s vote, where he quickly lit a cigarette outside of the council chambers.

“I really think the regulations should be reconsidered,” he said. “Fifty six percent of the voters supported it (Prop 215); that means more than half of the people in this room support medicinal marijuana.”

The most touching moment of the meeting belonged to Litvin, who revealed his difficult personal struggle after being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. He said he was a promising graduate student whose life was destroyed after his diagnosis.

The pain of living with the disease was excruciating, he said, and he lived much of his life drugged up on morphine. He turned to medicinal marijuana to ease his pain restore some of the quality to his life.

“If you know someone who’s been on morphine for 14 months that’s no way to live,” Litvin said. “I would have committed suicide if I had to go on that way.”

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Medical Pot : 6/3/2009

Pot should be legal. Mexico just legalized possession of small amounts of all drugs. Switzerland just legalized heroin. Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001 and their experience has been positive. Now if you are caught with a 10 day supply of your drug or less you face an administrative court, not a criminal court, but in practice they are just not arresting people. A group of 10,000 very serious policemen, prosecutors, attorneys and citizens have formed a group to legalize ALL drugs, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (http://leap.cc ) They see what happened when we legalized alcohol in 1932 as a good example of how drug legalization would work. This foolish war on drugs has lasted 37 years and cost us over a TRILLION dollars and we are not an inch closer to stopping drugs. How many millions of Americans are we going to lock up in prison for decades? Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com

Mark Montgomery

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: 6/3/2009

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who are ehse people? : 6/3/2009

Hmmmm, allow dispensaries but with "Heave Regulations." Where does this come from? The PEOPLE voted to make it LEGAL and to make it as EASY as possible for hurting people to get their medications. Now these people in charge put THEMSELVES over the voters and will do all they can to make it more difficult for dispensaries to operate. Do they regulate how many drug stores that sell really hard core addictive drugs can operate? Do they regulate how many liquor stores can operate with alcohol being a VERY addictive drug that kills THOUSANDS every year? What about regulating the amount of stores that sell the MOST ADDICTIVE DRUG KNOWN TO MAN, NICOTINE? Which kills over 10,000,000 world wide EVERY YEAR, more than the Holocaust in 9 years! Yet NO ONE has EVER died of Marijuana, you CANNOT overdose on it. And the high all the do-gooders worry about, what is getting high except FEELING GOOD. That is what every drug ad you ever see, for Zanax, Valium, Librium, all addictive drugs with bad side effects, OUR product makes you FEEL GOOD. That is why you smoke pot, TO FEEL GOOD. WHY do we have to go to jail for this??? Why are 800,000 American Citizens being arrested every year for minor pot offences? The prohibition must stop. Gary. )^_^)

None

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Prohibition FAILS : 6/3/2009

Legalize marijuana, tax it, regulate it, and move on to something more important. Prohibition is the United State's greatest failure of policy and ethics. It should have never existed in the first place. It's time for all branches of government to accept the fact that the War on Drugs is a complete and utter failure and to give back people's basic human right to cultivate and enjoy one of the Earth's most benign and wonderful plants. VOTE FOR POLITICIANS THAT SUPPORT ENDING PROHIBITION

ProhibitionFAILS

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Legalize : 6/3/2009

think of how much law enforcement would be freed up to fight REAL crime and how much money would be saved for the police budget, and if marijuana was taxed, how much money would be made. i really dont see the issue. especially with something like pot. a stoned person is about one tenth as dangerous as your average non-stoned person, and about one one hundredth as dangerous as your average drunk person. these people who want to keep it illegal need to let it go and concentrate on trying to do some REAL good. this is a waste of everybodys time.

the anti-William Randolph Hearst

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AntiTrust Laws : 6/3/2009

With there already being one outlet already in Goleta by denying others the Goleta Board is giving a monopoly to the existing one. They already overprice their goods above the street price just because they can. By not allowing another dispensary we can expect them to continue to overcharge those least able to afford the high prices.

Jim Dandy

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Legalize Marijuana for Adults in California : 6/3/2009

Marijuana should be legal not only for patients but for anyone over 21 who wants to use it. If you want marijuana to be legalized, taxed, and regulated, YOU can make it happen. Tell your legislators to support California Assembly Bill 390. It's easy. Visit http://yes390.org

AB390

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