Loma Linda Amends Ordinance to Ban Marijuana Collectives

Loma Linda on Tuesday joined the growing number of cities in the state to approve legislation that bans marijuana cooperatives.

The council unanimously voted to amend the Public, Peace, Morals and Welfare ordinance, defining the dispensaries as a public nuisance. They also amended the zoning chapters of the city codes.

A second hearing on the issue is scheduled for June 28.

Before the change, dispensaries were prohibited because they were not specifically listed as a permitted use, city officials said. Loma Linda City Attorney Richard Holdaway told the council the amendments cement the ban.

The city has kept cooperatives at bay by implementing a moratorium on collectives in 2009, Holdaway said. During the temporary stay, Holdaway kept an eye on the court battle between Qualified Patients Association v. the City of Anaheim. Medical marijuana advocates challenged the assertion that local ordinances trumped the state law known as the Compassionate Use Act.

But other cities and counties have successfully passed ordinances against the facilities through land use ordinances.

Meantime, the city did get phone calls from cooperatives asking about the cities policies.

“We’ve had two or three inquiries. We’ve had no formal applicants,” said Konrad Bolowich, director of community development of Loma Linda.

Lanny Swerdlow, a medical marijuana activist and registered nurse, is the medical director of the THCF Medical Clinic and Patient Center in Riverside. He is fighting his own court battle with Riverside, where his cooperative is based. He told the Loma Linda council members he was against the ban but, since it appeared likely to pass, errors in the amendments needed to be addressed.

There is not case law on the issue and that a court decision on whether cities can ban the dispensaries has yet to be delivered. He also asserted that a study done by Denver Police shows that crime did not increase in areas surrounding dispensaries.

Crime actually dropped, he said.

“If you want to go by studies, your neighborhoods would be better off if they had a collective operating in them than if they didn’t,” Swerdlow said.

“Mr. Swerdlow, you weren’t here earlier to hear the amount of public concern over a hamburger joint,” Mayor Rhodes Rigsby said, referring to a group of speakers who had spoken just before the discussion over the dispensary began. “This is a different town from some of the other places that you’ve been. I’m sure you’re aware of that. This is a place that cherishes its health consciousness. I’ve heard your presentations in the past that marijuana use promotes health.

“To my dismay, the marijuana law has resulted in a lot of physicians prescribing it for very small indications, such as social anxiety or nervousness or strange things like that,” said Rigsby, a physician. “I anticipated that this would be prescribed for classic indications like nausea and chemotherapy relief, even other indications such  as those suffering diseases of the elderly. But it’s turned into, in some places, into an excuse for (some) to use it for recreational purposes.”

Resident Dick Wylie asked the council to consider alternatives in the event state law changed further.

“I have a suggestion that (a cooperative) would qualify under a medically certified doctor and or a certified pharmacy,” Wylie said. “If they get out of line, or something happens, they lose their licenses. And they are not willing to do that.”

“I’m not in favor of marijuana, but doctors know what they can prescribe,” he added.