[420 Girl]

CA - A move to impose a moratorium on medical marijuana failed Thursday night when Livingston City Council members Rodrigo Espinoza and Margarita Aguilar were no-shows.

An emergency ordinance for the moratorium required four of five council votes to pass. With the absences of Espinoza and Aguilar, only three were present – Mayor Daniel Varela, Mayor Pro Tem Frank Vierra and Councilmember Martha Nateras.

Due to the absences, the item was dropped from the agenda, Katherine Schell reported in live Twitter coverage of the meeting. Schell is editor of Thegardeningsnail blog.

Mike Sperry Jr., owner of Mike’s Cozy Corner tavern in rural Livingston, had approached city staff asking what the procedure is for obtaining a permit for selling medical marijuana at his business establishment.

This set in motion a city staff report to the city council outlining City Hall’s opposition to sales of medical marijuana and encouraging the council to take emergency action to stop it.

“Cities that have permitted the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries have witnessed an increase in crime, such as burglaries, robberies and sales of illegal drugs in the areas
immediately surrounding such dispensaries,” Assistant City Attorney Jeffrey L. Massey wrote in a memorandum to the council.

“Under federal law,” Massey wrote, the United States Controlled Substances Act classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has no accepted medical use. Indeed, the Controlled Substances Act was enforced by the Justice Department against medical marijuana users, growers, etc. until the beginning of 2009.

“In February 2009, however, the United States Attorney General announced that the Justice Department would no longer raid medical marijuana growers and dispensaries. This led to rapid increase in the number of medical marijuana dispensaries operated throughout California.”

The three council members present did not indicate when the issue may be considered again.

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