Voters might have 3 pot choices on the November ballot

Laguna Beach voters could have three options regarding medical marijuana dispensaries when they visit the polls this November.

In response to a proposed initiative that would repeal Laguna’s current ban on dispensaries, the City Council on Tuesday directed staff to craft two alternatives, including one maintaining the status quo.

Initiative sponsors would like, at most, two dispensaries in Laguna so patients would not have to travel outside city limits to obtain the drug. According to the initiative, dispensaries would be allowed only in commercial zones and could not abut residential areas or be less than 1,000 feet from a public or private school.

Laguna Beach police suggested a competing ballot measure that would allow one dispensary, while council members suggested a third option of maintaining the existing prohibition.

The city outlawed medical marijuana dispensaries in 2009, and in January the council banned commercial cultivation and large-scale deliveries of the drug. But patients and caregivers are still allowed to pick up doctors’ prescriptions for marijuana that are filled outside of Laguna and bring them into the city.

Some speakers extolled marijuana as a drug that helped them cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and body aches, in addition to easing the side effects of cancer treatments.

“To completely disregard patients’ request and your own citizens directive is not only disingenuous of the activity you do, but you are failing to represent your own constituents,” said Charnel James, an attorney who has represented several jurisdictions throughout the state on marijuana-related issues.

James said she did not write the proposed initiative, which was sponsored by two Laguna Beach residents who wished to remain anonymous.

Having only “one dispensary would not allow competition. There would be inflated prices,” James said in an interview outside council chambers.

Police Chief Laura Farinella suggested a willingness to ease the current ban as she explained that her department was trying to strike a reasonable balance, taking into account patients who rely on medicinal marijuana while trying to prevent public safety problems such as robberies, loitering and illegal drug sales.

“They don’t want to travel to Santa Ana to get medicinal marijuana,” Farinella told the council. “Recreational use has never been the subject of any conversations. So we figure with the guidelines in place, it would make it safe with public safety in mind.”

“From a strategic standpoint, if we came out with an ordinance opposing any medical marijuana dispensaries, it’s possible that bad ordinance could pass,” Mayor Pro Tem Toni Iseman said, referring to the initiative calling for two sales outlets. “The bad ordinance is bad news. It would really create a mess.”

Iseman advocated for a delivery option to be included in the initiative, explaining that “not every one has a caregiver” who could legally pick up a marijuana prescription.

City Atty. Phil Kohn told the council that the measure with the highest number of votes would prevail and that voters would vote yes or no on each of the three alternatives.

Each ballot initiative would cost the city $8,500, City Clerk Lisette Chel-Walker confirmed in an email.

The council could vote on the proposed counter initiatives June 14.

Statewide this fall, voters will be faced with an initiative that would allow any person 21 or older to buy marijuana for recreational purposes.

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bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce