11A - ORD MED MARIJUANA DISP - Laserfiche WebLink

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Grove, Hayward, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Visalia, West Hollywood, and Whittier are among some of the cities which allow medical marijuana dispensaries in specified zones. This statistic may be somewhat misleading, however. For example, while Whittier permits dispensaries in its industrial zone, it has ordered the only existing dispensary in the city to close within one year. H. Currently, Long Beach, Corona, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Santa Clarita, and Simi Valley, among others, still have moratoriums in place. Several other cities have opted not to address the issue at the Council level, on the theory that (a) any land use not expressly permitted by the zoning code is banned, and/or (b) no land use can be legally established that violates federal law. These cities include Orange, San Juan Capistrano, Burbank, and Glendale. Numerous law enforcement agencies have expressed concerns regarding medical marijuana dispensaries and cooperatives in their areas. The California Police Chief's Association (CPCA) recently compiled a report containing data from several jurisdictions which illustrates some of law enforcement's complaints about these facilities: the facilities violate federal law, street dealers often sell at lower prices to entice patients away from dispensaries, non- residents travel to the city to purchase marijuana, neighboring businesses have experienced a loss of customers, there appears to be an increase in unreported crime to avoid negative publicity, there have been robberies outside of and at the dispensaries, there have been home invasion robberies of individuals who utilize or are employed by the dispensaries, and patients selling to non-patients. In addition, the media have investigated and reported about several physicians suspected of providing prescriptions of medical marijuana when they have not evaluated the patient's medical condition or the patient has no serious medical condition that would warrant a prescription. J. The secondary effects outlined in the CPCA report, the EI Cerrito Police Department memorandum and the Anaheim declarations are likely to occur in Santa Ana if medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed to legally operate. Unlike the cities and counties which have opted to not adopt ordinances addressing this issue, Santa Ana has a broad zoning use classification of "retail and service" uses (Santa Ana Municipal Code section 41-144) which would appear to allow medical marijuana dispensaries. Accordingly, once the moratorium expires and without a ban, medical marijuana dispensaries would be allowed to operate in all specific Ordinance No. NS-XXX 11 A-3 Page 3 of