The city of Glendale was issued a temporary ban preventing the opening of medical marijuana dispensaries within the city almost two-years ago and it is about to expire. The city is moving towards making it a permanent ban.
In 1996 California voters approved the nation’s first medical-marijuana law. The idea behind the medical-marijuana was to allow people with medical conditions to get a doctor’s written recommendation to buy marijuana. The marijuana is said to help cancer patients, for example, with pain rather than using the traditional painkillers such as morphine or Vicodin. The dispensaries are where the patients can go and buy the marijuana.
Back in 2009 Glendale City Council adopted a moratorium preventing the city from allowing medical marijuana dispensaries. During this waiting period the city had its attorneys review the legal issues related to an all-out ban. The moratorium the city was given expires in September and there is no option to extend it any further. On Tuesday the City Council instructed city attorneys to prepare a permanent ban to be voted on for the summer ballots.
As of now there are no dispensaries in the city of Glendale and many would like to keep it that way. The city councilman, police force, and city residents are all in favor of making this ban permanent.
“I’m against dispensaries in Glendale,” Councilman Ara Najarian said according to the Glendale News-Press. “I wish we could go outside our buffers and create a buffer zone as well.”
Glendale police officials say the ban would help protect the city from vandalism, violent crime and easier illegal drug access for local youth according to the Glendale News-Press.
“We are very concerned with the proliferation of marijuana coming into the area,” Police Chief Ron DePompa said.
Another concern worth noting is how the dispensaries may affect the real estate market in Glendale. Some are concerned that if the city is unable to get the permanent ban approved the opening of the dispensaries may devalue the surrounding properties. They believe that the dispensaries will introduce and incubate a “seedy” element to wherever they are established; and by association, the neighboring community will be less valuable as buyers could be turned off by this.
The city of Anaheim was also looking to get a permanent ban on the marijuana dispensaries and took the issue to state appellate court. The issue was being challenged during Glendale’s moratorium. Glendale officials were hoping that the Court of Appeal in Santa Ana would decide in favor of the ban and this would help in setting a legal precedent. Instead, the appellate court sent the case back to the lower court for additional review.
Even though the Santa Ana court did not make a decision city attorneys for Glendale are still hopeful. There are several others cities that have been able to get a permanent ban and Glendale intends to join them.
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