Assemblyman chimes in on local pot shop controversy
In a lengthy letter released yesterday, Assemblymember Pedro Nava decried the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries in Santa Barbara and called on city leaders to correct what he termed “inadequate regulations and restrictions” as soon as possible.
“Pot dispensaries have spiraled out of control in our community, threaten the fabric and quality of our lives, and must be stopped,” he said in the prepared statement. “Unfortunately, prior attempts to regulate pot dispensaries were lacking and have failed.”
He pressed city officials to establish a moratorium on new dispensary applications and investigate shops that are currently open to ensure they meet state and local laws.
Nava cited the negative influence of dispensaries on young children, recovering drug addicts and other community members in his letter to the council.
“Parents with school-age children deserve better than to have their kids walk in front of the marijuana dispensary on their way to class,” he wrote. “Recovering substance abusers should not have to witness the proliferation of illegal pot shops as they struggle to resurrect their lives. And criminals who grow, distribute and sell illegal marijuana should not see Santa Barbara as just another market to exploit.
“It’s way past time to roll up the Santa Barbara welcome mat.”
But several city leaders accused him of political posturing, including Councilmember Das Williams, who is facing off against Nava’s wife, Susan Jordan, in the Democratic race for the termed-out assemblyman’s seat in 2010.
Nava is also hoping to translate his time in the assembly into a successful run for state attorney general next year.
“When he sees the opportunity to score some points, he is obviously trying to do that,” Williams said. “But look, the job is already getting done.”
The city’s ordinance committee has worked through a painstaking series of hearings in recent months while drafting a set of recommendations to tighten up current regulations on medical marijuana dispensaries — including a citywide cap of seven dispensaries spread among seven geographical areas.
Those recommendations are heading to the city’s planning commission for review before proceeding to the full council for approval, likely in the next month. And city officials decided several weeks ago to discuss and possibly approve a moratorium on new and pending dispensary applications, a discussion that will take place in the coming weeks.
Currently, the city is aware of one permitted dispensary that is open, eight that are in the approval pipeline, and four that opened before the city established regulations and have a limited timeframe before they must close or come into compliance, as well as three illegal shops that are facing enforcement actions.
Local leaders have been struggling for several years to find a balance between protecting access to medical marijuana for legitimate patients while protecting neighborhoods from negative impacts of dispensaries. A set of regulations went into effect last year, but city officials continued to receive complaints about the proliferation of new dispensaries, prompting officials to revisit those regulations.
“Every time the public has come to us, we have ramped up the response,” Williams said. “We are tightening the regulations on these places, we’re shutting down the ones that are illegal and we are requiring the ones that are nonconforming to come into compliance.”
Attempts to contact Nava for comment on the accusations that his letter was politically motivated were not successful yesterday.
Reached yesterday afternoon, Mayor Marty Blum said she also believes the letter has political undertones — particularly due to the heated battle between Jordan and Williams over Nava’s assembly seat.
“His wife is running against our ordinance committee chair,” the mayor said. “Maybe it’s too simplistic, but that’s the bottom line.”
Blum said she couldn’t remember the last time Nava has weighed in on an issue being discussed by Santa Barbara city officials.
“He is a resident of the city, so he has the right, but he usually doesn’t meddle in these things,” she said.
Comment on this article
Taken For A Ride : 12/1/2009
If I had only known how this system would have been abused, never would I have voted yes on Prop 215.
To even call these "Shops" Medical is a joke, They are exactly haas you stated in the title "Pot Shops".
CmanSB
bummer dude : 12/1/2009
Nava and Williams: Dem and Demmer...
cheech
Good for Nava! : 12/1/2009
I am happy that as a resident of the city, and as the current Assembly Rep, he weighed in on this. Williams has been catering too long to the pro-pot crowd, and people who voted for Prop 215 NEVER thought the city would be overrun by dispensaries. The city continues to downplay the severity, when there are a lot more pot shops than they admit. Shame on the council, and especially Grant and Das, for turning the keys of the city over to LA profiteers hoping to cash in on a drug trade the council made legal. Other cities have banned dispensaries. Out of 1000 cities, we are one of 30 that allowed these things. Send them packing!
Downtown Res
The Truth : 12/1/2009
Today we live in the age of mis-information. The truth is that pot is basically harmless. It has been used medicinally since ancient times.
Politicians, large corporations, and mainstream media control the information that they want to enter our heads. If you hadn't noticed, legitimate conversations about cannabis never appear on tv and radio.
The reason for this is that cannabis prohibition = money. It's not about health, as mainstream media may lead you to believe. If this were true, alcohol and tobacco would be lobbied against with the same kind of furor that the weed is.
It's about profits, profits that are a direct result of cannabis prohibition. The large American industries of healthcare, food, materials, and even energy depend on cannabis and hemp's prohibition. Cannabis and hemp = health and personal sustainability, two things that destroy the profit-generating structures of the elite class.
The War on Drugs has failed and will continue to fail. To all those trying to place heavier restrictions on pot shops- I understand your confusion but you are fighting the wrong battle. The more you restrict the legitimate people the more power you give street dealers. I hope you realize that.
MAPLE
No one decries liquor stores : 12/1/2009
We do need appropriate regulations for the sale and use of marijuana. However, we can not hold dispensaries responsible for the inappropriate use of marijuana. We do not hold pharmaceuticals and distilleries responsible for our addictions or irresponsible use of legal drugs and alcohol. We need to take responsibility for our own actions and lead by example. Bottom line, laws don't prevent addiction. Laws only turn addicts into criminals. By the way, does Mr. Nada drink alcohol when minors or alcoholics are present? Sounds like hypocrisy to me.
Angela Vengel
Why is everyone being such a buzz kill... : 12/1/2009
I am so disappointed that everyone is trying to limit my right to get legal access to my "medicine". Everyone who is against it does not know how it is to live with pain every day. I got the online doctor to approve my condition over email and then I am able to get what I need whenever I want. It is great. Me being able to get "medicine" for my migraines or my depression (or whatever I made up) has made my life great. I can now spend more time in getting money to pay for my medicine. I am able to sell a little of my stash to supplement my income to others who suffer as I do so whats the harm. I cannot wait until they pass the health care for all bill so I can get it paid for with tax dollars so I don't have to sit on State Street to raise money.
WhatDidYouThink
WhatDidYouThink : 12/1/2009
I think you should work on your grammar. Beyond that, I think that Maple's comments were right on the mark!
weak : 12/1/2009
Marijuana isn't the problem, it's the 1000's of drunks roaming our streets and roads every night. When was the last time you saw a kid walking to school? Has a dispensary been robbed yet ?are the people roaming around outside drinking from paper bags or passed out in their own vomit and peeing anywhere. If you want to limit something limit ,the bars and liquor stores. How many places can you get boozed up? Binge drinking and Prescription drugs are the real problem with young people today, and where do the get them? From their parents. Nava just swung my vote to Das.
republocrate
: 12/1/2009
Silly Season. High Silly Season.
out of control : 12/1/2009
ONE is out of whose control?
Prin T
Let's compare : 12/1/2009
Anybody have statistics on how many driver arrests/accidents involve marijuana and how many involve alcohol?
Curious
Can't really : 12/1/2009
I don't think the stats you're looking for would be very useful, Let's Compare. Marijuana is responsible for far fewer car accidents than alcohol, but that is likely to be because there it is far more common to drive drunk than drive stoned. And that may be because alcohol is legal and easy to buy. So if marijuana is legal and easy to buy, then marijuana-caused accidents would likely increase proportionally....
Das $ells out to pot : 12/2/2009
Das is taking big money from the Sperlings, who sponsor marijuana initiatives across the states. He also is taking money from ganjapreneurs, er dispensaries. Why do you think he's doing backflips against Francisco to get as many opened as possible? Doesn't anyone see just the tiniest ethics problem there??? Kids are smoking pot in front of city hall during the day. THIS is what the pro-dispensary movement is all about in a nutshell: I want my pot, and I don't care about any consequences. All these pot vs alcohol arguments are irrelevant. 80 years after legalization, and we have to write DUI laws to stop people from killing each other on the roads, AA is doing a thriving business, and homeless guys are peeing in our streets. CAN'T WAIT to see what legalization of marijuana produces. I am sure it will be so much better (NOT).
Get rid of Das
Funny no one complains about pharmacies... : 1/6/2010
Since they carry and provide Oxycontin, vicodin, tylenol w/ codeine...etc. The pharmacists are in the same boat as dispensary workers...they simply comply with the prescription provided. They have no idea if the medication they're dispensing are being used for legitimate medical conditions or being turned around and given to someone else or sold on the street. Despite that, you don't hear people complaining about the local rite aid. Marijuana is safer than pills and alcohol - there has never been an overdose death from marijuana..it is physically impossible to overdose on marijuana. No one ever has. But let this sink in for a minute...you can overdose and die from drinking too much water. That's right. You can overdose and die from drinking water - the fluid of life. Anyone remember the radio contest up in Sacramento where a woman died after competing in a water drinking contest? However, the amount of marijuana needed to overdose and die is impossible...roughly 40,000 times the amount needed to get you stoned. I suck at math, but figure that out.
Cannabis, in all forms from hemp, seeds, and flowers, have been a part of human society since ancient times. It was made illegal based on lies from William Randolph Hearst *don't believe anyone was that powerful? He also helped start the Spanish American War* because of the threat to the logging industry and his bank account *If paper was produced from hemp, which grows faster than trees, can you imagine what that would have done to the logging industry*. Yes...it has the potential for addiction...but so do a LOT of other legal substances. If you have an addictive personality, it doesn't matter what you use, you're a slave to it. However...when you see a bum on the street asking for change...you usually see him swigging on a bottle of cheap liquor, not puffing on a joint.
I do believe that dispensaries shouldn't be located around schools...but neither should liquor stores. I agree with shutting down the dispensaries that are not in compliance with the law *I have heard of places that sell to anyone, even to people without prescriptions, and of dispensaries that sell other drugs behind the storefront*. However, I do think there is some lingering fear that the lies of the prohibition continue because people are unaware of the facts. Pretty much everyone here has always lived with marijuana prohibition - it's all we know. It is our responsibility to spread the truth and break down the false information surrounding marijuana.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/146397/water_intoxication_how_much_water_is.html
http://www.drugtext.org/sub/marmyt1.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/10-sacked-over-fatal-water-contest/2007/01/17/1168709801896.html
http://www.medicalmarijuanablog.com/articles/does-marijuana-kill-people.html
http://www.spanamwar.com/Hearst.htm
http://norml.org/
Devi
Re:Can't really : 1/8/2010
"Can't really : 12/1/2009
I don't think the stats you're looking for would be very useful, Let's Compare. Marijuana is responsible for far fewer car accidents than alcohol, but that is likely to be because there it is far more common to drive drunk than drive stoned. And that may be because alcohol is legal and easy to buy. So if marijuana is legal and easy to buy, then marijuana-caused accidents would likely increase proportionally...."
It is not far more common to drive drunk than to drive stoned, people just get caught driving drunk more because alcohol affects your movement and vision, marijuana does not make your vision blurry or double, and it doesn't make you unable to walk, unless you have large quantities of it and even then its more that you do not want to move then cannot move. The fact that alcohol is legal actually makes it harder to buy for people under 21. The liquor stores do not want to get in trouble for selling to underaged people so they do not, while dealers don't care about selling to people who are younger because they are breaking the law anyways. If i wanted to get alcohol and marijuana right now it would be far easier for me to get some pot then beer
Informing the ignorant
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