Dec 092009
In this editorial headlined “Rx for dope,” the San Diego Union-Tribune opines that medical marijuana dispensaries should operate “only as police-regulated businesses, just like massage parlors, strip joints, pawn shops and numerous other businesses. Would-be dispensary owners and operators should be required to submit their applications to the police department and they and their employees should be subject to criminal background checks. Police should be the lead enforcement agency for compliance.”
Yeah, that’ll work.
In the long stretch of logic required for such a conclusion, the editorial writer notes a “stunning comment” made by Steve Walter, assistant chief of narcotics for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, as reported in the Union-Tribune: “Based on the investigations we’ve done so far, I’m unaware of any (medical marijuana) storefronts operating legally.” His comment mirrors that of Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who has said “about 100 percent” of the marijuana storefronts in that county operate illegally.
Well, there you have it. If all dispensaries are illegal in the eyes of the top cops in those two counties, then all attempts to craft a meaningful ordinance will be saddled with endless legal challenges and dubious prosecutions. Who needs the feds to conduct raids on dispensaries when every high-flying DA in California is encouraging police to follow the same destructive path?
The Union-Tribune urges the San Diego City Council to “at least hear the words of law enforcement experts and put these businesses under the tight control of the police.” But if these same so-called experts are committed to flaunting the voter-approved Compassionate Use Act, lawmakers have little choice but to lead public policy where the cops are loathe to follow.
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