San Jose Voting to Ban Medical Marijuana Today, May 20

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwired - May 20, 2014) - The San Jose City Council is expected to pass regulations that are virtually identical to those in 2011. Three years ago medical marijuana advocates repealed a similar unworkable ordinance. The motivations claimed by the Council are to protect the community and reduce the negative impact caused by several cannabis clubs in San Jose. This problem is something the City Council itself created by failing to properly regulate cannabis clubs for the past five years.

"Regardless of the City Councils talking points, these regulations are bad for San Jose," said Dave Hodges, founder of the All American Cannabis Club and Silicon Valley Cannabis Coalition operator. "Without reasonable regulations that treat cannabis clubs like any other business, we will never move forward."

In a speech before the City Council last week, the Supervisor of the Narcotics Prosecution Team for the Santa Clara County District Attorney, Patrick Vanier, claimed cannabis clubs "like [to be in] the gray area." This could not be further from the truth. The medical marijuana Industry wants regulations. The fact is, if you let growers and vendors register with the city, most will, and the ones that do not will disappear.

A solution proposed by the Silicon Valley Cannabis Coalition (SVCC) would satisfy all sides. Last week, May 12th, SVCC members filed an initiative that would create a Cannabis Commission in San Jose. The commission would create regulations, provide oversight and ensure a long term solution for medical marijuana clubs in San Jose. It would act as a regulatory body for medical cannabis in the city and could ensure flexibility given the complexity of this dynamic issue. The commission would achieve several objectives including:

• Ensure marijuana does not impact any K-12 schools.
• Establish strict operational & safety standards for marijuana businesses.
• Ensure marijuana businesses that cause problems in the community are shut down.
• Actively monitor marijuana businesses for any violations of safety & operational standards and recommend appropriate fines or fees.
• Study any concerns of the community related to marijuana.
• Ensure cannabis clubs participate in drug diversion & youth drug education programs.

"We have asked the Council not to approve the current proposed medical marijuana regulations and to work with the SVCC on a lasting solution for San Jose," said John Lee, SVCC member and director of Control and Regulate San Jose. "We can only hope they will be reasonable this time around."

The entire communities on all sides of this issue should fear the ramifications of this decision.

San Jose City Council Meeting:
Today, May 20th, 2014 at 1:30pm
San Jose City Hall, Council Chambers
200 E Santa Clara St, San Jose, CA

The SVCC's language can be viewed at: http://bit.ly/svcc-language
More information: www.SVcannabis.org