CITYWIDE Word spread quickly about the Herb King on Main Street and the owner’s recent decision to dispense medical marijuana. So quickly, in fact, that the midnight tokers barely had enough time to exhale before City Hall put a chokehold on the herbalist, effectively chasing it out of town.
While medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed under state law and have sprouted up all over Southern California,city officials have not allowed them to set up shop in Santa Monica.
That could change following a recent report by city planners outlining several ways in which the operations could be regulated to cut down on their impact on the community.
Dispensaries offering marijuana to qualified patients could be forced to apply for a conditional use permit that would limit their hours of operation and place other restrictions on the owner. The City Council could limit dispensaries to certain areas of the city that are at least 1,000 feet away from schools, parks, religious centers and day care facilities.
“Every community is different (in how they choose to regulate dispensaries) and every community is unique when it comes to their tolerance level,” said Jing Yeo, a senior city planner who looked at the ways in which 26 cities and eight counties regulate medical marijuana.
PLANTING THE SEED Allowing medical marijuana dispensaries became an issue for Santa Monica in February, when entrepreneur Nathan Hamilton asked the council to allow him to open up shop on the 2200 block of Main Street. Hamilton, who now operates a dispensary in Tarzana, said there is a strong need for a dispensary in the city, citing at least 50 patients at his Tarzana facility who are Santa Monica residents and would much rather go to a location closer to home.
When Hamilton made his request, there were no zoning codes covering dispensaries, which makes them a prohibited use in Santa Monica. The council instructed city staff to look into the issue and study how other governing bodies have handled it.
Since then, Herb King began to distribute medical marijuana, furthering the need for an official response. Representatives from Herb King did not return phone calls seeking comment.
While the federal government considers smoking and possessing pot illegal — cracking down on dispensaries and cannabis clubs — medical marijuana is permitted under the state’s Compassionate Use Act, which was approved by voters in 1996. The law, in part, made legal the use of marijuana for medical purposes to qualified patients and their caregivers.
The law was further enhanced by SB 420, which went into effect in January 2004 and created a state-approved medical marijuana ID card program. The law established guidelines as to how much marijuana a patient or caregiv-er can possess and provided additional protections from state marijuana laws, including possession, transportation, distribution, importation and maintaining a place for selling, giving away or using a controlled substance.
Furthermore, the law authorizes patients with IDs to associate with one another in order to collectively or cooperatively cultivate medical marijuana.
YOU GOT THE MONEY? YOU GOT THE STUFF?
Hamilton said his Santa Monica dispensary would operate much like a collective, in that it would be a nonprofit
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 26, 2007. Read the original PDF.