Folks hoping to open medical marijuana dispensaries in Lodi are going to have to wait at least another year.
The City Council voted Wednesday to extend Lodi’s existing moratorium on medical pot shops to April 13, 2011, Stockton Record reporter Daniel Thigpen writes here.
Before drafting a set of rules, City Attorney Steve Schwabauer said he wants more time to watch pending court cases elsewhere in California that might affect the ability of cities to regulate the dispensaries.
City Councilman Larry Hansen said he wondered whether a statewide petition to legalize recreational marijuana, proposed for the November ballot, could additionally alter the issue. “To me, I just think that’s one more reason to seek this additional time,” he said. “That certainly can change the playing field.”
There are no laws on the books in Lodi regulating the establishment or operation of medical pot dispensaries.
Last spring, the City Council approved a 45-day moratorium on the facilities and later extended the ban when officials received several inquiries about opening the shops.
Those requests followed an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice that it would not go after medical marijuana shops in the 13 states, including California, that have legalized dispensaries despite federal laws that prohibit them.
In Stockton, city leaders also are weighing regulations on medical marijuana shops after a dispensary opened in November as a “natural food and supplement store.”
Only one member of the public spoke before the Lodi council’s vote Wednesday. Lodi resident Robin Rushing urged city leaders to hurry up and write up regulations.
“What my problem is,” he said, “I don’t know, as a medical marijuana patient, what I’m allowed to do in the city of Lodi.”
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