[420 Girl]

In a dramatic turnaround from their vote in March, the Yucca Valley planning commission Tuesday ruled 4-1, Dawn Rowe dissenting, against a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in the Town limits.

The commission had decided to look at writing a land-use regulation for dispensaries after learning of a local dispensary.

Just one business in Yucca Valley, the health collective California Alternative Medicinal Solutions, includes medical marijuana as part of its operations. It is in an industrial park next to a children’s ballet and karate studio.

Commission Vice Chairman Robert Lombardo, who was absent at the previous hearing, first voiced his concerns about CAMS’ proximity to the children’s studios and other possible safety issues.

“Having heard what I did tonight, I can see a huge need for it in the community,” said Lombardo.

“We have an opportunity to take something that’s controversial now and be more specific about it in our community as a model of coexistence. It has a stated purpose and a useful purpose. I want to find a way to make this happen as opposed to finding a way to shut it down. It should be appropriately placed.”

Commissioner Margo Sturges reported she visited California Alternative Medicinal Solutions and met with director D.J. Ross. While she appreciated CAMS’ role of Basin benefactor and taxpayer, “The first thing that came to mind is how close it is to the ballet studio. That was a real turn-off.”

She said she also spoke with “parties” who believed placing a medical marijuana dispensary in a hospital setting would be suitable “down the road.”

Commissioner Dennis McKoy commended the speakers and admitted that his thinking changed from being, “no way,” and associating the word marijuana with “bad.”

Chairman Shannon Goodpaster said what turned the tide of his thinking was a discussion with “prominent members of this community,” one of whom wished their cancer-stricken child could have had medical marijuana to ease the pain.

Closer to home, Goodpaster said a close friend of many years was diagnosed with cancer.

“If it’s something that would make him feel better, it’s medicine that’s been used for thousands of years. I think there’s probably a better way for us to deal with this issue than to create an ordinance that bans dispensaries straight out.

“I’m not an advocate either way,” said Goodpaster, “I’m trying to look at the broader picture.”

Rowe spoke at length about what factored into her stance against allowing dispensaries.

“I have done my own personal introspection. I have visited with people at colleges, with police officers, with parents, with people who are sick and done my own research,” she said.

“I did the best to make sure that my decision to enact an ordinance against dispensaries was truly in the best interests of the greater good of Yucca Valley.”

Commending the nonprofit CAMS for contributing to the Morongo Basin’s only no-kill animal shelter and the local schools and for abiding by the law “the best that they can,” Rowe’s take-away from the public hearing was that having to relocate the business indicated that its existence was a problem in the town.

“I know it’s not the 90 percent of their elderly patients, it’s the 10 percent,” she said.

“It all comes down to what is the better good for our society as a whole.”

Sympathizing with those who would have to drive to a dispensary in Riverside or Palm Springs if CAMS were shut down, Rowe harked back to one of her original positions, the ability of the patients to grow their own medicinal use marijuana.

“That eliminates the need for a dispensary in our town,” she reasoned.

Law associations against facilities

Although medical marijuana use was made legal by state voters in 1996, San Bernardino County had been contesting its implementation through the courts until getting a final refusal of its appeal from the U.S. Supreme Court in May.

Taking its cue from the county, Yucca Valley had never considered zoning provisions for dispensaries.

At a hearing in December, the commissioners were told the dispensary was operating legally in the Town, but they also were told they would need to form a land use policy for it.

At the issue’s last hearing in March, commissioners were provided with a staff report consisting primarily of a survey of 49 jurisdictions to ascertain what their medical marijuana policies were.

Tuesday night’s staff report provided arguments for prohibition to support the commission’s previous wishes for a ban. It contained two recent reports complied by the California Police Chiefs Association in conjunction other law enforcement organizations.

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