Vote on Medical Marijuana Ban Postponed

After hearing more than two hours of public testimony, the Long Beach City Council decided to move its vote on the potential ban of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city to the January 10, 2012 City Council meeting.

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting, which lasted over five hours, eight council members voted on the potential ban, but the vote ended up in a 4-4 deadlock. Councilmember Robert Garcia was not in attendance due to personal reasons.

Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal then moved for the agenda item to be revisited January 10, so that Garcia could be present.

“My interest in having [Garcia] here is because I know he’s very involved in this subject,” Lowenthal said.

“We’re supposed to listen and be a part of this, and to do that, we need all our council members here,” said councilman Dee Andrews.

The move to revisit the vote once Garcia was in attendance was met with a round of applause from the enormous crowd on hand.

If the vote had passed Tuesday night, city attorney Robert Shannon commented that the ban could have been effective immediately.

Shannon was asked by the City Council to draft two ordinances regarding the medical marijuana industry, and it was Shannon’s advice that the City Council either ban the dispensaries or, essentially, live with them, as it is illegal for the City Council to regulate the marijuana dispensaries.The concern with this has been that the City would have no authority over the location of a dispensary.

Tuesday’s meeting was not without fireworks, as over 200 community members were in attendance. In fact, police were forced to move a large group of residents to the Long Beach Public Library auditorium, where they would be able to watch the meeting on a projector, due to overcrowding of the council chambers.

In addition, over 30 members of the community lined up to have their opinion heard by City Council.

Not surprisingly, those opinions were seldom in favor of the potential ban.

Mark Lee, a lifetime Long Beach resident confined to a wheelchair, told City Council that medicinal marijuana has changed his life for the better.

“For the past several years, I’ve lived pain-free and I don’t know how my life will be if you take my medication from me,” Lee said. “Regular medication does not relieve my pain the way that plant from the earth does.”

One Long Beach dispensary operator said that he employs 12 college graduates and is a college graduate himself, hoping to dispel any notion that marijuana somehow affects mental aptitude.

Some speakers chose to warn the City Council about the repercussions of banning medical marijuana dispensaries, such as Occupy Long Beach member, Parker Cook.

“It will only result in a rise in crime and cause people to seek other, more dangerous drugs,” Cook said.

The notion that a ban on medical marijuana would result in more crime and drug deals across the city was a point often incorporated within several speakers’ advice to the City Council, but the few speakers in favor of the ban, maintain that a reduction in drug-peddling would occur with a repeal of medicinal marijuana sales.

Glenn Tidwell, owner of Free Lance Motors in north Long Beach, said that his business is located near a dispensary and that he has witnessed several “dope deals” take place.

“A lot of these people that say they need marijuana, they’re selling it,” Tidwell said. “There may be a true need for people who are seriously ill, but with kids doing dope deals on my property, I’m seeing marijuana used and abused.”

While the majority of speakers spoke out against the ban, the City Council was not necessarily influenced by the outpouring of support for the positive uses of medicinal marijuana.

Vice Mayor Lowenthal reminded those in attendance that it is the responsibility of the City Council to protect the interests of all Long Beach residents, not just a portion.

“If there is an element that exists that reduces the quality of life for others, that is problematic,” Lowenthal said of the presence of medicinal marijuana within the city.