[420 Girl]

Without discussing the issue, the Camarillo City Council, during last Wednesday's regular meeting, unanimously adopted a 45-day moratorium on building or operating medical marijuana clubs.

In the past few months the city has received several inquiries about the potential establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries, or cannabis clubs, on Ventura Boulevard in Old Town.

Although medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, federal laws prohibit any use or sale. The legal ambiguity puts cities in an awkward position. As a result, a number of cities in Ventura and Los Angeles counties are adopting ordinances either banning or placing moratoriums on dispensaries. Simi Valley, Moorpark and Oxnard have taken such actions.

Now Camarillo will have 45 days to decide whether to continue the moratorium or consider new laws.

"During that period we'll look at this more carefully, present more options to the City Council," said Don Davis, assistant city attorney. "This is a complicated issue."

Camarillo is likely to ban medical marijuana facilities.

"Staff's recommendation is that they not be allowed," City Manager Jerry Bankston said. "We had done quite a bit of research . . . but we still need to clarify and check the wording of the ordinance itself, which the city attorneys will be doing. This starts at the planning commission level because it is a zoning matter, not criminal or penal."

In 1996 California voters approved Proposition 215, the "Compassionate Use Act of 1996," which allows seriously ill people to treat pain with medical marijuana. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative (2001) that marijuana use, distribution and possession is illegal.

Camarillo passed the moratorium because there's nothing in the city's municipal code that addresses the matter.

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