Napa Repeals Medical Pot Dispensary Law, Declines to Issue Ban

After four years of crafting and then adopting a Napa city law that would have allowed for a city-regulated medical marijuana dispensary, Napa City Council Tuesday night voted 4 to 1 to scrap it altogether.

Council, however, declined to take the added step of moving forward on a proposed ban on such dispensaries or to endorse a proposal to amend city zoning to allow for a "de-criminalized" zone where medical pot could be dispensed.


The only action City Council could agree to take Tuesday was to draft a letter to Napa's lawmakers at the state and federal level expressing disappointment that the confusion over medical marijuana laws had not yet been resolved.

"We're back to square one," said a frustrated Napa Vice Mayor Peter Mott, who cast the sole "no" vote on the repeal of the ordinance.

Mott said during an emotional two-hour public meeting Tuesday that he was ready to implement the ordinance and create the dispensary, despite risks of lawsuits or even prosecution.

"I don't think the risks are real," Mott said. "I don't see the U.S. Attorney's Office coming to our doorstep.

"I think we need to take a leadership role," he added.

The July 2010 ordinance -- which was created starting in August 2009 -- was adopted but never implemented because the city voted in October 2011 to place a moratorium on medical pot dispensaries due to pending legal rulings. That moratorium is set to expire this October, triggering the current request from city staff for City Council to offer direction on the next step.

As a result of the moratorium, no medical marijuana dispensaries exist in Napa, forcing patients to travel to Vallejo, Santa Rosa, Oakland or San Francisco to obtain their medication.

"We can't keep forcing people to go out of town to get medical marijuana," said Bill Iverson, president of Napa Spinal Cord Injury network and a quadraplegic from an accident that damaged his seventh cervical vertebrae. "It's just wrong to even consider a ban."

Iverson was one of 19 people to testify during almost 90 minutes of public comment. Most of the speakers were in favor of medical marijuana being available in Napa.

"It is not the compassionate act of a city to stand between patients and their doctors," said Lowell Downey, noting that two of his friends who were dying  used medical marijuana in their last days to ease their pain.

Ryan Voss, who is in a wheelchair from a broken neck, said marijuana is the only thing that can stop his body from spasms or that lets him sleep.

"Thank you, Napa, for being accessible (to handicapped people)," Voss said. "Let's make Napa accessible for people who have cancer, or cystic fibrosis or multiple sclerosis."

Of the four City Council members who voted to repeal the ordinance, three -- Alfredo Pedroza, Juliana Inman and Mayor Jill Techel -- said they were skittish about potential backlash from the federal government, which has not authorized any legal use of pot, including medicinal.

That issue was underlined by Napa District Attorney Gary Lieberstein,
"I don't want my tax dollars going to fight federal prosecutors," Lieberstein said  during the public comment period. "This (ordinance) puts your staff at risk."

The fourth councilmember to vote for the repeal, Scott Sedgley, said he was not afraid of federal prosecution but said he didn't want to put the city at risk financially.

"It would be hard for me to justify the cost of a court battle (if a lawsuit were filed by the federal government), when we can't even give our employees raises," Sedgley said.

He said he favored the option for a zoning change to add a "de-criminalized" zone to allow medical marijuana sale. But Sedgley's motion to go forward on the zoning change failed to gain a second.

Councilman Alfredo Pedroza said he was discouraged on the idea of a Napa medical pot dispensary by city staff in Sebastopol, where there is an active medical marijuana clinic. He said the Sebastopol police chief noted there had been break-ins at the dispensary and that most of the people receiving pot were not legitimate patients.

"The population there is 7,500, but there are 10,000 patients," he said of the Sebastopol clinic. "Of those, 200 are legitimate."

But two healthcare professionals who testified Tuesday said City Council was getting misinformation about medical marijuana.

The old concept of drug dealers smoking joints on the corner and infiltrating youth with drugs is not the reality for medical marijuana, said Yvonne Baginski of Napa, who works for Born to Age Senior Care Directory.

"The world and times are changing," Baginski said. "I see the difference in the lives of older people from just little Gummy Bears, tinctures, teas and little candies (infused with marijuana)."

Dr. Richard Lenson, a retired physician from Napa, said he volunteers at medical marijuana dispensaries in Vallejo, Santa Rosa and Oakland through an organization called Compassionate Health Options.

Lenson, who said he has treated more than 500 patients, said many of them don't smoke the medical pot, but instead use alternatives such as inhalants, topical creams or edibles.

"With the vast majority of them, their conditions have improved," he said. "People who just want to get high, they don't want to spend the extra money for medical marijuana at dispensaries.

"The dispensaries have better products than what's on the street," he said.