[420 Girl]

Hoping to clarify ambiguities set by the 1996 Compassionate Use Act, the San Mateo City Council is set to approve Monday a medical marijuana ordinance to regulate who can grow and distribute the drug within its borders.

The council will vote on the first reading of an ordinance at its Monday meeting. If approved, the council will have a second reading with a vote next month and the law would go into effect 30 days later, sometime in May, said City Attorney Shawn Mason.

The ordinance would require medical marijuana dispensaries to register through the Police Department and meet certain security and business regulations. It will also prohibit collectives from anywhere in the city but manufacturing and service commercial areas.

For the most part, the proposed ordinance would regulate the “collective” cultivation of medical marijuana. Collectives are places where people pool their money and time to grow marijuana in one central location. Dispensaries simply distribute and are already prohibited by law.

While state law allows collectives, it places few limits on the activity and some cities, like San Mateo, are taking steps to fill the void.

The ordinance would require collectives to register with the Police Department to prevent law enforcement mistakes by informing officers where lawful cultivation of marijuana is taking place.

It would also require collective growers to obtain a license, so the city could adequately address neighborhood impact. The license would be issued through a committee of people formed from city departments, Mason said.

People who grow marijuana on their own property for personal use will not be subject to the new requirements, according to a report issued last year.

The ordinance will establish conditions to address safety and security. The ordinance will prohibit advertising of the activity, smoking marijuana on site and sale of marijuana at the collective. It will require security lighting, alarms and that the marijuana be grown indoors, according to the report.

City officials were asked to address medical marijuana collectives last year after three were shut down in raids that occurred Aug. 29, 2007.

Medical marijuana advocates gathered to protest the raids at a council meeting last year and asked for assistance in easily accessing medical marijuana. Some called on the council to pass a non-conformity ordinance that declares the city will not comply with federal law that prohibits all marijuana use. In October, a handful of medical marijuana users and supporters appealed to the council to pass a concise and clear law.

“Separate from adoption of the ordinance, we are recommending we put together an outreach program,” Mason said.

The outreach program would take longer to develop, but would help explain to medical marijuana users the laws of the city and how they relate to state and federal regulations, Mason said.

California voters passed Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, in 1996, allowing sick patients to either grow their own marijuana or have a primary caregiver grow it for them. In 2003, the state Legislature passed the Medical Marijuana Program Act to clarify vague portions of Proposition 215.

Cities remain stuck between the vague state law that allows medical marijuana and federal law that prohibits it.

Following last year’s raids, law enforcement officials claimed the clubs were not acting as collectives. Owners and directors of the clubs argued they are collectives because members are pooling their money for marijuana, providing a safe place to buy it and access to resources about using it.

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