Medical marijuana dispensaries banned in Contra Costa, CA
Medical marijuana dispensaries banned - San Jose Mercury NewsMedical marijuana dispensaries won’t be allowed to open in Contra Costa’s unincorporated areas as county supervisors Tuesday unanimously agreed to ban them.
Too often dispensaries are a gateway for people with questionable medical ailments to obtain marijuana and then sell it on the streets, supervisors said.
“While I am empathetic to patients with serious and terminal illness, the marijuana dispensaries have attracted both criminal and nuisance problems to the communities where they operate,” said Supervisor Mary Piepho of Discovery Bay.
Such facilities have been prohibited since the county approved a temporary moratorium in April 2006. But that moratorium expires April 10, which is why supervisors fast-tracked the permanent ordinance banning land uses that violate state or federal law.
Banning new facilities will inspire a black market for medical marijuana sales, patient advocates told supervisors.”The smart thing to do would be to regulate these (dispensaries) and have a safe environment rather than people having to go through backdoor means,” said Armando Soto with Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group.
Supervisors said that patients are still free to smoke marijuana in their homes for medical purposes or grow it themselves, as permitted by state law.”The use of (medical) marijuana is allowed by patients who qualify,” said Supervisor Susan Bonilla of Concord. “We’re not changing that provision.”
Sure, the Contra Costa patients can use marijuana… if only they can find some. And if they can’t get it at a legal, regulated dispensary, they are going to get it from an illegal, unregulated drug dealer. Nothing like government providing price supports and guaranteed clientèle to black market operations, huh?
This insanity will continue so long as marijuana remains illegal for healthy people. I still don’t get why the cancer patient and the healthy person sharing a doobie means one of them is a criminal deserving of prison. So long as non-patients have to pay exorbitant black market prices, that black market will continue to set the prices and the public’s perception of the legal dispensaries in California. You just can’t have a black market run alongside a white market without both becoming a little bit gray.
Tags: California, Contra Costa, dispensaries
