Newport’s proposed ban would keep power over pot local
An ordinance seeking to ban marijuana cultivation, processing, distribution and delivery in Newport Beach will go before the City Council on Tuesday night.
Newport’s current municipal code does not expressly address medical marijuana, though dispensaries are not allowed to operate in the city, according to City Manager Dave Kiff.
The proposed ban is in response to the state’s Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Oct. 9. The act, which becomes effective Jan. 1, will create California’s first statewide licensing and operating rules for pot growers, manufacturers of cannabis products and retail outlets since state voters legalized medical marijuana nearly 20 years ago.
The act also states that unless cities take immediate action to enact rules or bans for medical marijuana in their areas, the state will become the sole authority for licensing and regulation, according to Newport Beach Mayor Ed Selich.
“If the city doesn’t take an active position, then we give up power to the state, which we don’t want to do,” he said.
In 1996, voters approved Proposition 215, which enabled seriously ill Californians under the care of a doctor to legally possess, use and cultivate marijuana for medical use. In 2003, the state Legislature adopted the Medical Marijuana Program, which allowed patients to associate collectively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes.
“This is a City Council that has not weighed in on this issue yet,” Kiff said. “They may have different perspectives from the path that staff has followed for several years … prohibiting dispensaries and growing. The thinking we have had is that these uses bring about more problems than benefits.”
Several neighboring cities have struggled for years with the notion of whether to allow pot shops.
In Costa Mesa, where medical marijuana dispensaries have been banned since 2005, two certified petitions sought to send the question to voters, but the City Council declined to put them on a special election ballot this year because of a technicality in state tax law. Instead, the petitions will be on the city’s next general election ballot in November 2016.
Costa Mesa Councilman Gary Monahan, with assistance from the city attorney’s office, spearheaded a proposal to allow dispensaries, but it was rejected by his council colleagues last year.
According to a Newport Beach staff report, several California cities have reported offensive odors, illegal sales and distribution, trespassing, theft, violent robberies, fire hazards and other problems related to the cultivation and distribution of marijuana.
Though there are no brick-and-mortar pot dispensaries operating in Newport Beach, several online services say they deliver marijuana to people in the city.
Tuesday’s City Council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.
Daily Pilot staff writer Bradley Zint contributed to this report.
