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Livermore seeks permanent ban on marijuana dispensaries

Brian Foley San Jose Mercury News

Livermore, CA Nov 15, 2006 -- City officials are moving forward with plans to permanently ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

An existing moratorium is scheduled to expire Sept. 11, 2007 after the council voted to extend it two months ago. City officials say that the City Council didn't want to wait until the last minute to make a permanent decision.

"We ran the course on investigating and researching and reached a critical point where we were able to come up with a recommendation for the council," said city attorney John Pomidor. "The council didn't want us taking it to the last moment."

On Monday, the council voted 4-1 to instruct its staff to draft an ordinance.

"We've done extensive research," said City Manager Linda Barton. "We were unable to find a model or an example of a successful operation that didn't deal with secondary impacts."

Those secondary impacts include a reputation that dispensaries draw crime. On top of that, a problem looms for cities because of disparities between state and federal laws. While Proposition 215 legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes at the state level, the federal government regards the drug as illegal.

Councilman Tom Reitter, the dissenting vote, favored communicating with the city of Oakland and its dispensary operators before making a permanent decision.

On Monday, a handful of opponents urged the council to show restraint, reminding them that with Congress shifting to Democratic control that federal marijuana laws might change.

An Oakland attorney, James Anthony, lambasted the city staff's report on the subject that heavily relied on past negative incidents with dispensaries. Anthony called the report "a hatchet job" that ignored positive aspects. He pointed to Oakland, which regulates, permits and oversees four successful dispensaries.

"(The staff report) was very one-sided," he said. "It consisted of cut-and-paste horror stories associated with unregulated dispensaries."

Barbara Killey, an Oakland administrative hearing officer, confirmed that Oakland police has "had almost zero problems with dispensaries." She said Livermore officials have not contacted her.

Livermore resident Michael Ferrucci, a medical marijuana patient, hopes for a strong turnout when the City Council formally votes on an ordinance. He said Tri-Valley residents who are sick shouldn't have to drive to Oakland and Hayward for medicine.

"I want to invite the public -- cancer patients, M.S. patients, pain patients -- to show up and have their eyes on the council as they take their medicine away," he said.

Pomidor expects the city staff to present an ordinance to the council in January.

In June, Dublin formally banned dispensaries and in July, Pleasanton extended its year-long moratorium.