Where do I find the proposed Medical Marijuana Ordinance and Maps for San Diego?

UPDATE: Proposed MMJ Ordinance is tentatively scheduled to be heard at the April 22 San Diego City Council meeting at 2pm Here is the complete package that will be presented to council that day it includes Executive Summary, Draft Ordinance, List of Proposed Zones, and Zoning Maps.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SHEET

REQUESTED ACTIONS: 

Provide staff with direction on how to proceed with drafting the ordinance. 

The issue of whether the medical marijuana dispensaries should be permitted to operate within 

the City began in earnest with the establishment ofthe Medical Marijuana Task Force (MMTF) in 

October 2009. The MMTF was established to advise the C ity Council on guidelines for patients 

and primary caregivers, the structure and operation of cooperatives. and police enforcement. On 

November 12, 2009, the MMTF issued its recommendations. 

On March 28, 201 l, the City Council adopted an ordinance establishing medical marijuana 

consumer cooperatives as a permitted use in the CR-E-l commercial zone and the IL~1~3 and IS-

l-l industrial zones subject to restrictions. ln general, there were two reactions to the ordinance. 

The first was that the ordinance was too restrictive in allowing medical marijuana dispensarìes in 

such a limited number of zones  second, that an ordinance allowing medical marijuana 

dispensaries should not have been approved. As a result of the first reaction  that the limited 

zones with an expansive number of buffer areas protecting “Sensitive Receptorsllcreated a virtual 

ban on dispensaries anywhere  a petition to place the matter on the ballot was circulated and 

received enough signatures to require the City Council to either place the item on the ballot or to 

repeal the ordinance. On September 2’?, 201 l, the City Council voted to repeal the ordinance. 

On January 28, 2013, the Mayor committed to the City Council that he would bring forward a 

new draft ordinance for the CouneiVs consideration within 30 days, and that the new draft would 

be based on the ordinance the Council passed previously. 

This proposal to amend the Municipal Code to permit medical marijuana dispensaries is based on 

o To allow patients in need with a proper prescription access for thc compassionate use of 

medical marijuana throughout San Diego. 

o To allow limited competition in permissible zones so that patients can find the strain they 

need to alleviate their symptoms and to improve the quality of their lives. 

l» To prevent dìspensaries from encroaching on our residential neighborhoods. 

0 To promore legal and responsible business practices among dispensaljfr operators 

l To protect children from unprescribed use. 

The  amendments to the Land Deveìoprnent Code reñect where this proposal differs from the 

amendments approved in March 2011. The major differences between the previously approved 

Medical Marijuana Ordinance and this discussion draft are as foìlows: 

l The “medical marijuana consumer cooperative” has been renamed “medical marijuana 

dispensary” and the defînition modifîed. 

0 The permit requirement has been changed from a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) Process 

Four to a Neighborhood Development Permit (NDP) Process Two. 

D The number of zones where a medical marijuana dispensal’y may be permitted has been 

expanded to include ail ofthe Community Commercial (CC) zones,

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SHEET
REQUESTED ACTIONS: Provide staff with direction on how to proceed with drafting the ordinance. 
The issue of whether the medical marijuana dispensaries should be permitted to operate within the City began in earnest with the establishment ofthe Medical Marijuana Task Force (MMTF) in October 2009. The MMTF was established to advise the C ity Council on guidelines for patients and primary caregivers, the structure and operation of cooperatives. and police enforcement. On November 12, 2009, the MMTF issued its recommendations. 
On March 28, 201 l, the City Council adopted an ordinance establishing medical marijuana consumer cooperatives as a permitted use in the CR-E-l commercial zone and the IL~1~3 and IS-l-l industrial zones subject to restrictions. ln general, there were two reactions to the ordinance. The first was that the ordinance was too restrictive in allowing medical marijuana dispensarìes in such a limited number of zones  second, that an ordinance allowing medical marijuana dispensaries should not have been approved. As a result of the first reaction  that the limited zones with an expansive number of buffer areas protecting “Sensitive Receptorsllcreated a virtual ban on dispensaries anywhere  a petition to place the matter on the ballot was circulated and received enough signatures to require the City Council to either place the item on the ballot or to repeal the ordinance. On September 2’?, 201 l, the City Council voted to repeal the ordinance. 
On January 28, 2013, the Mayor committed to the City Council that he would bring forward a new draft ordinance for the CouneiVs consideration within 30 days, and that the new draft would be based on the ordinance the Council passed previously. 
This proposal to amend the Municipal Code to permit medical marijuana dispensaries is based on 
o To allow patients in need with a proper prescription access for thc compassionate use of 
medical marijuana throughout San Diego. 
o To allow limited competition in permissible zones so that patients can find the strain they 
need to alleviate their symptoms and to improve the quality of their lives. 
l» To prevent dìspensaries from encroaching on our residential neighborhoods. 
0 To promore legal and responsible business practices among dispensaljfr operators 
l To protect children from unprescribed use. 
The  amendments to the Land Deveìoprnent Code reñect where this proposal differs from the amendments approved in March 2011. The major differences between the previously approved Medical Marijuana Ordinance and this discussion draft are as foìlows: 
l The “medical marijuana consumer cooperative” has been renamed “medical marijuana 
dispensary” and the defînition modifîed. 
0 The permit requirement has been changed from a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) Process 
Four to a Neighborhood Development Permit (NDP) Process Two. 
D The number of zones where a medical marijuana dispensal’y may be permitted has been 
expanded to include ail ofthe Community Commercial (CC) zones,

Keep reading by clicking below link.

http://tinyurl.com/brwvwgz

MAP IS HERE

Heidi Whitman Patient Interview FOX 5 San Diego

Medical marijuana patient and advocate Heidi Whitman discusses her condition, medical cannabis use, and weighs in on the city’s proposed ordinance. Aired 3/19/2013 - 5pm Fox 5 Evening News

NEW DATE: San Diego City Council Vote of Medical Marijuana Ordinance

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Join patients, advocates, and concerned citizens on Monday, April 22, 2013 at 2PM at San Diego City Hall 202 C St. San Diego, CA 92101

That day, City Council will be discussing and voting on a newly written and revised ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries in the City of San Diego. 

We need all patients and supporters to come out, sign in to speak, and urge city council to approve the ordinance without delay. Over the years, medical marijuana patients in San Diego have endured raids, lawsuits, eradication efforts, and outright misinformation about medical marijuana. Now we have a Mayor who is willing to stand up and advocate for compassion rather then eradication. 

Mark your calendars, spread the word, and help create permanent safe access in San Diego! 

For more information email: sandiegoasa@gmail.com

Feds to Target Pot Delivery Services in San Diego

FBI agents in San Diego are shifting focus from closing down medical marijuana dispensaries to cracking down on marijuana delivery services. NBC 7’s Tony Shin has this exclusive report.

Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/video/#!/news/top-stories/Feds-to-Target-Pot-Delivery-Services/193338851#ixzz2MPsvuJ9D

Safe access to medical marijuana threatened by San Diego policies

By Jack Daniel in Medical, News
Friday, March 1, 2013 at 2:20 pm

“They are no different than a guy selling dimebags in the back of a van in Pacific Beach.”

Those are the words that the top commander of the San Diego DEA Acting Special Agent in charge, William Sherman, chose to describe the large number medical marijuana delivery services in an interview with NBC San Diego7 on Tuesday. 

Since September of 2011, over 230 storefront medical marijuana dispensaries have been shut down across San Diego by federal and local law enforcement agencies. During the costly raids, tens of millions of dollars in inventory and money were seized by businesses that thought they were operating legally under California’s Prop215 and SB420.

But the crackdown on that booming business of medical marijuana dispensaries has caused an explosion of delivery services across San Diego. And now they find themselves in the DEA’s crosshairs.

In the same interview, Sherman refers to medical marijuana delivery services as drug dealers and cites claims that delivery drivers travel with armed guards and bring added violence to neighborhoods. A simple Google search will turn up far more headlines about robberies and violence during the delivery of pizzas than those regarding the delivery of marijuana.

Sherman and his office have thrown down the gauntlet, announcing that his goal is to have the current crop of medical cannabis delivery services shut down by the summer. Medical marijuana advocates, meanwhile, say police are cutting off what’s left of safe access for patients who can’t or don’t grow their own now that storefronts aren’t around.

Among those leading the charge is Eugene Davidovich and the San Diego chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA). In a statement released on his Facebook page, dated February 27th, Davidovich addresses the DEA and U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy directly, saying:

“If you think the community will sit by quietly while you attempt to shutter the last traces of access to medical cannabis that exist in San Diego, then you have another thing coming. We will not rest until you are held accountable for this attack and your previous attacks on patients. It is time for you to end this interference in state law and vindictive eradication effort. San Diego elected officials and community members deserve to regulate a medicine that has been legal in the State for 16 years without this federal interference.”

bobfilnerformayor.com

San Diego mayor Bob Filner.

Joining the growing resistance to this war on medical marijuana in San Diego (and lending the power of his pulpit to the debate) is newly-elected San Diego Mayor, Bob Filner.

Filner is an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana and its known benefits, and was swept into office last November on a wave of support from the cannabis community. 
The edge Filner held in the late polls - and wound up winning by - was a near mirror image of the estimated number of marijuana users in San Diego. Hardly a coincidence and a fact that surely was not lost on Filner once he took office. Since a very public showdown with City Attorney Jan Goldsmith in January of this year, the Mayor’s office has been busily working with advocacy and patients’ rights groups to draft an ordinance that they feel will pass a razor thin 5-4 majority in the City Council.

That hearing was scheduled to take place on March 5th, but has already been postponed by at least a week or two, according to the Mayor’s office. In the meantime, statements like those being made in the media by the DEA, as well as city and state attorneys leave a lot of patients in limbo.

The pending ordinance hearing could either be a closing chapter in the story of the San Diego medical marijuana scene or - hopefully — a new beginning.

Beware the ides of March

Jack Daniel is a new freelance writer with Toke of the Town. He enjoys teaching the Macarena to zoo animals and loves long walks on the beach with a spliff in his hand. Look for more from Daniel in the coming weeks.