Since the recent California Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to ban marijuana dispensaries, even the ASA has had to come to grips with the truth that majority of Californians are saying “no”. Yes, the "Truth" is now out and it is devastating for those whose desire is to create a legal culture of drug abuse in our nation.
On November 02, 2010, Californian’s had a choice to vote for the legalization of marijuana via Proposition 19. The pot lobby tried to influence the vote by announcing what is called “Junk Science” polls, claiming that the voter polls strongly supported the legalization of marijuana.
Well, we all now know that the Citizens of California were not fooled by these false polls and instead voted to deny the legalization of marijuana by 53.5% to 46.5%. So much for “Junk Science”; the Voters of California didn’t buy it.
Then, on the November 06, 2012, the citizens of five cities across California voted to ban marijuana dispensaries within their jurisdiction; Palo Alto, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Lemon Grove, and Imperial Beach.
Then, the Pro-Marijuana lobby along with the ACLU decided to sue the City of Riverside for “banning” marijuana dispensaries within its city limits; insisting that the marijuana laws of California overruled a city being able create ordinances banning dispensaries.
The case went all the way to the California Supreme Court when on May 6, 2013, in a unanimous decision (7 to 0) it ruled that the city of Riverside (vs. Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center) can indeed ban marijuana dispensaries. This ruling also allowed cities across California to ban marijuana dispensaries if they should choose to do so.
Since the ruling the Americans For Safe Access (ASA) has finally had to come to grips with the “Truth” that time is against their side of the debate and now realize that cities like San Jose and others may soon begin the process of shutting the dispensaries down in their jurisdiction.
In fact, since the California Supreme Court ruling on May 6, 2013, several cities have followed suit and have begun to impose their bans on dispensaries within their own jurisdictions; I.E., Riverside.
Other Californian cities are beginning the process of closing down the illegal pot shops in their jurisdiction including; Palm Springs, Garden Grove, Maxwell, Beaumont, and Anaheim. And meanwhile, more cities, like San Pedro are just beginning the work to consider closing them down.
It took less than 17-days after the court ruling for these five cities to begin shutting down marijuana dispensaries and more cities are also looking into closing down the pot shops in their jurisdictions.
When you add these cities to the overwhelming number of Cities across California (over 200+) that have either banned dispensaries, have moratoriums, or created ordinances that won’t allow them you can see that the “Truth” is, marijuana is “not” popular in the State of California.
California is finally waking up.
ReplyDeleteI know a California lawyer who works for the State Attorney Generals office. He told me that it is almost impossible to get a conviction against pot users because there is always at least one user on the jury who will not vote to convict. Until that situation changes our system will not enforce the laws that make the use of pot illegal. A minority, though fairly large, is getting their way. How do we come to grips with this and make this practice a thing of the past. I suggest a different court system for drug users. It is like choosing a jury of convicted murderers to sit on a murder trial.
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