Beaumont Council Takes Steps To Ban Marijuana Shops

The Beaumont city council this week voted in favor of banning any sort of marijuana shop in town– and to make sure nothing pops up while an ordinance is pending, a moratorium on the facilities has been extended.

The council voted 4-0, with Councilman Castaldo absent, Tuesday in favor of adopting Ordinance No. 1033, to prohibit the establishment and operation of medical marijuana dispensaries, cooperatives and collectives in the city.

That ordinance will be carried into the next council meeting on June 4, and if it's approved then, will be enacted 30 days later.   No one spoke either for or against the measure in a public hearing before Tuesday's vote.

City reports attached to the council agenda indicate one of the reasons for the ban is that despite the medical purpose of California's 1996 Compassionate Use Act, "many persons took advantage of the act to use marijuana for recreational and not medicinal purposes."

Documents cite a report issued by the California Chief's Association from 2009 which apparently found "...that only about 2 percent of those using crude marijuana for medicine are critically ill.  The vast majority of those using crude marijuana as medicine are young and are using the substance to be under the influence of THC [tetrahydrocannabinal] and have no critical medical condition."

This ordinance comes just weeks after the California Supreme Court found local jurisdictions have the authority to prohibit marijuana facilities.

In the meantime, while city lawyers prepare Beaumont's marijuana ban for the next council meeting, leaders also voted unanimously Tuesday to extend a moratorium on pot facilities, which has been in effect for the last year.  That was passed on May 1, 2012 and extended for a year on June 5, 2012, according to city spokeswoman Darci Mulvihill. 

The moratorium extension will "give us enough time to implement the ban," City Attorney Joe Aklufi said before both ordinances were voted on.

Beaumont's only known recent collective, Oak Tree Alternative Care, was shuttered in 2011 after a multi-agency sweep and arrests five were made.

The city of Banning adopted a similar law, ordinance 1369, in May 2007, which prohibits pot shops in that town.