San Mateo board stalls pot stores

REDWOOD CITY San Mateo County supervisors passed an emergency ordinance
Tuesday that creates a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries until a
local policy for them is developed.

Passed by a 50 vote, the moratorium is intended to give supervisors time
to come up with zoning regulations that would govern locations and
operating procedures for dispensaries in unincorporated areas.

The matter came before the Board of Supervisors after resident Salvador
Garcia asked about setting up what would have been the first such
dispensary in San Mateo County.

Garcia wants to operate it in North Fair Oaks, an unincorporated part of
Redwood City.

With the passage of Proposition 215 last November, medical marijuana was
made legal for people who have a doctor's recommendation for it.

Board President Mike Nevin supports the use of medical marijuana but goes
even further than backing its distribution through dispensaries.

He would like to see it sold through local drug stores. Nevin said he
intends to write a letter to state health officials, urging them to
consider that idea. "People that need marijuana for medical purposes aren't
secondclass citizens," said Nevin, a retired San Francisco police
inspector.