HIGHLAND>> The City Council has approved ordinances banning the cultivation and delivery of medical marijuana within city limits.
The council approved two ordinances on Tuesday that were originally proposed in order to meet a now-canceled deadline set by newly enacted state legislation.
Medical marijuana dispensaries and mobile medical marijuana dispensaries are banned in the city.
The council approved an urgency ordinance that prohibits cultivation of medical marijuana, including for personal cultivation by qualified patients, a person with an identification card or primary caregiver.
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They held the first reading of an ordinance that would continue the ban on cultivation as well as prohibit mobile medical marijuana dispensaries and the delivery of marijuana and marijuana products in the city.
“The bill has just been passed in Sacramento that actually changes the deadline, but we still believe it’s prudent for the city to get this ordinance in place,” City Attorney Craig Steele said on Tuesday.
The Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act — a set of three bills — was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in October. The act establishes licensing requirements for the cultivation, transportation, storage, manufacture, distribution and sale of medical cannabis. It also establishes regulations on physicians who recommend or prescribe medical marijuana to patients.
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The act had required local jurisdictions to develop their own regulations on the cultivation and delivery of medical marijuana by March 1 or it would fall under state law. The deadline was mistakenly included in the adopted legislation.
Brown earlier this month signed a bill removing the deadline from the legislation.
The cities of Redlands and Yucaipa also recently strengthened their ordinances prohibiting medical marijuana cultivation and delivery.
California voters approved The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 allowing people who are seriously ill, under the care of a physician, to legally possess, use and cultivate marijuana for medical use.
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In 2003, the state legislature adopted the Medical Marijuana Program which allows qualified patents and their primary caregivers to legally cultivate marijuana for medical purposes collectively or cooperatively.
Although the city had already banned mobile dispensaries, the new ordinance re-aligns definitions with state law.
“The city of Highland actually was one of the first cities in Southern California to adopt the existing regulation on mobile dispensaries and that was because staff became aware of a business card advertisement that was distributed in the parking lot of the Stater Bros. center, and that was a few years ago,” Steele said. “There is anecdotal evidence of a number of cities that have had robberies that have occurred because of the available information on these distributors. They know where a car’s going to be and that car is going to have pot and cash and police departments have had armed robberies that have been reported.”