10:00am | A motion to create an ordinance regulating medical marijuana was passed 5-4 by the Long Beach City Council last night, making it easier to govern the growth and sale of medpot by establishing ground rules.
The Council passed an ordinance very similar to the one that had been hotly debated over the past few weeks, but including stricter buffer zones around schools and mandating that all medical marijuana must be grown within city limits. The latter regulation was created with the idea of keeping out illegal growers and drug cartels, while medical marijuana lobbyists and owners insisted that growing the marijuana in house was not only infeasible but greatly increased the risk of theft and crime.
Local lobbyist Carl Kemp – who represents about ten local dispensaries – told the lbpost.com in February that requiring shops to grow themselves and within city limits was a mistake.
“If I were a property owner in Long Beach, I wouldn’t want medical marijuana grown in my property,” Kemp said in February. “Not because of any philosophical view, but because of what it might do to my building.”
The City of Los Angeles passed a similar – but not identical – ordinance last year and has been sued on the grounds that the ordinance is unconstitutional. Long Beach City Attorney Robert Shannon said during a Monday evening debate that crafting ordinances should not be dictated by whether or not the City is likely to be sued over them.
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