Pot Patients Must Wait for Proposed Dispensaries

Medical marijuana patients living in Napa are no closer to having a local source for the state-sanctioned medications they now drive to Solano or Sonoma counties to obtain.

The city council moved unanimously Wednesday evening to extend to a full year the 45-day “urgency moratorium ordinance” passed last month to suspend the process of approving medical pot providers.

“The city faces potential criminal liability for adopting ordinances that essentially facilitate violating federal law,” said city attorney Michael Barrett, explaining the consequences of an Oct. 4 ruling by a state appellate court.

That decision, Pack vs. Los Angeles Superior Court, stated that a municipal pot-dispensary ordinance similar to Napa’s carefully-crafted statute was in violation of federal law.

Although it does not rule out simpler ordinances that give local governments fewer controls over pot dispensaries, the Pack decision rapidly led to the council’s adoption of the 45-day moratorium Oct. 18.

The city now has until next October to plan its moves as the shifting struggle between federal and state marijuana policy continues to play out in the courts.

And lest the topic slip lawmakers’ minds, the council also voted unanimously to have Barrett return with a staff report every 90 days.