Alameda, California Issues Moratorium on Marijuana Dispensaries

Alameda, California city council voted last week to issue a 45-day moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries to study the issue.

In a unanimous vote, the city council voted to give city staff time to study the effects that medical marijuana dispensaries have had on other communities and collect feedback from the public.

In July the Purple Elephant opened in Alameda as a medical marijuana dispensary and the city’s senior planner Cynthia Eliason said they have received requests to set up other dispensaries in the last few weeks. Currently there are no regulations for dispensaries in Alameda.

The moratorium would not affect the current dispensary, which is listed as “miscellaneous retail” on its business application license.

Although federal law prohibits the use of marijuana, California voted to allow the use of medical marijuana in 1996. Since that time, local governments in the state have enacted rules regulating the sale and distribution of the drug.

Earlier this week, Seal Beach became the ninth town in Orange County to place a ban or moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in their city limits. However, in September Laguna Woods voted to allow medical marijuana dispensaries and Berkeley residents voted in a measure making it easier for dispensaries to open.

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