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<br />bk:8/26/07 <br /> <br />ORDINANCE NO. NS-2758 <br /> <br />AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY <br />OF SANTA ANA ADDING ARTICLE XIII TO CHAPTER 18, <br />AND ADDING SECTION 41-121 AND AMENDING <br />SECTION 41-144 OF THE SANTA ANA MUNICIPAL <br />CODE TO PROHIBIT THE ESTABLISHMENT AND <br />OPERATION OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES <br /> <br />THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA DOES ORDAIN AS <br />FOLLOWS: <br /> <br />Section 1. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby finds, determines <br />and declares as follows: <br /> <br />A. For the last two years the City Council has had a moratorium in place <br />banning medical marijuana dispensaries from opening in Santa Ana. The <br />moratorium expires on October 17, 2007. Under state law, such <br />moratoriums cannot generally be extended beyond two years. <br /> <br />B. Under federal law, marijuana is considered a Schedule I drug which <br />denotes "a high potential for abuse, lack of any accepted medical use, and <br />absence of any accepted safety for use in medically supervised <br />treatment." But California has two statutes dealing with medical <br />marijuana. The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (the "Compassionate <br />Use Act") was enacted through a popular initiative, Proposition 215. The <br />Medical Marijuana Program Act of 2004 was enacted by the State <br />Legislature in the belief that Proposition 215 was being ignored by <br />California cities and counties. Both of these state laws provide a defense <br />to criminal prosecution for possession, cultivation, and transportation of <br />marijuana in certain circumstances. <br /> <br />C. In June 2005, the United States Supreme Court, relying on the Commerce <br />Clause and Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, held that <br />this California state law does not provide a defense to individuals <br />prosecuted in federal court for cultivation, transportation, or possession of <br />marijuana. After the June 2005 Supreme Court decision, many cities, <br />including Santa Ana, enacted moratoriums to study the issue of medical <br />marijuana dispensaries. Currently, many cities are facing the same <br />predicament that Santa Ana is facing with their moratoriums about to <br />expire. <br /> <br />D. In Orange County, the cities of Tustin, Anaheim, Fullerton and Costa <br />Mesa have all banned medical marijuana dispensaries from their cities. <br />Anaheim recently enacted their ban and also decreed that any <br /> <br />Ordinance No. NS-2758 <br />Page 1 of 7 <br />