Leaders, law enforcement address dispensary concerns
With three medical marijuana dispensaries and one cultivation operation planned for Ramona, a group of law enforcement officials, county staff and concerned leaders met Monday morning to work together for a positive outcome.
“Our concern is really about protecting our community,” said Nancy Roy, a resident and member of the sheriff’s Ramona Citizen Advisory Group. Roy facilitated the meeting with assistance from Crime Prevention Specialist Barbara Wallace.
Also attending the meeting were Dave Lohman, principal of Montecito High School, and four high school students.
Ranking at the top of the group’s concerns is the possibility of impaired drivers, unfamiliar with the area, traveling the curvy roads to and from a Ramona dispensary.
“We live in a rural area with dangerous roads up and down,” said Roy.
Other concerns include increased crime around areas where there are dispensaries, illegal sales of drugs in those areas, marijuana getting into the hands of youths, impacts to neighboring businesses, loitering around dispensaries, smell of marijuana in the areas, vandalism, and smoking pot in public. Medical marijuana is legal in California and can be sold to persons 18 years or older if they have a medical marijuana identification card.
According to the county, building permits have been issued for dispensaries in former residences at three locations: 1210 Olive Street, 618 Pine St. and 736 Montecito Way. The Olive Street site is expected to open soon. The dispensaries cannot open until the sheriff’s licensing division issues an operating certificate after checking that everything is in compliance and construction has been signed off by the building inspector.
A medical marijuana grow operation is proposed for a steel structure at 2338 Montecito Road, and was the subject of an informational presentation to the Ramona Community Planning Group at its Dec. 3 meeting. Planners had many questions about the proposed operation, some of which could not be answered by the consultant giving the presentation on behalf of her client. Planning group chair Jim Piva said the dispensary applicants are not required to present their project to the group.
Dag Bunnemeyer, planning manager of the county zoning department, said on Monday that due to zoning, “Ramona could end up potentially with six or seven facilities.”
County ordinance stipulates that dispensaries can only be on industrial-zoned parcels and must be at least 1,000 feet from schools, recreation centers, youth centers, churches, playground parks and residential zoning. Bunnemeyer said there is one dispensary in Lakeside, a permit has been issued for one in Rainbow, and two are in the process in the Lakeside/Alpine area. There are only so many areas in the unincorporated parts of the county that meet the criteria for a dispensary location, he said.
Officials in the sheriff’s department said the Ramona applicants are aware of the community’s concerns and want to be good neighbors. “Everyone that we’ve dealt with has been ultra cooperative. Their business depends on it,” said Lt. Rich Williams with the sheriff’s Ramona station.
Sheriff Licensing Specialist Ricky Wright Jr. said the Olive Street dispensary owners would have attended the meeting.
As to concerns of dispensary customers buying and lighting up in their vehicle, sheriff’s officials said they usually wait and take the product home.
Williams said if someone saw a person smoking pot in their car, to call the sheriff’s department to investigate because “that’s a DUI waiting to happen.”
California Highway Patrol Officer Amado Macias advised drivers who see a car weaving or a driver who appears to be impaired to call 911 and give the license plate of the vehicle.
“We have about a 90 percent catch rate on these people,” he said.
Unlike tests for alcohol, Macias said CHP does not have a test for someone driving under the influence of drugs as the levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) impairing someone depends on the user. Officers, he said, are trained in making observations to determine if a driver is impaired due to drugs, and if test positive, will be arrested.
Addressing concerns of youths obtaining marijuana, one of the high school students said Ramona is a small town, kids get bored and might be more willing to try marijuana because it’s here. Wright said if a dispensary owner finds out a customer is buying for a minor, he will shut that customer out.
Citizen Advisory Group member Celeste Young said parents need to be educated that today’s marijuana is not the same as in the past and the THC levels are more potent.
Among proposed solutions to the concerns were posting signs on the road to call 911 if someone observes a driver who appears to be impaired, getting the message across to youths about the dangers of marijuana, and creating neighborhood watch areas with posted signs near the dispensaries.
Wright said the Olive Street and Montecito Way sites are trying to open by the end of the year so they can get grandfathered in before next year’s changes, when more state guidance on how dispensaries operate goes into effect under Assembly Bill 266.
The advisory group plans to set up a meeting with the owners of the proposed Ramona dispensaries.