Poll Reveals San Diegans Want To Regulate Marijuana Dispensaries, Not Eliminate Them

Medical marijuana: Legal as long as you don't actually buy it anywhere?
Photo: Coaster420, Wikimedia Commons

By Steve Elliott in Chronic City

​It's a classic case of disconnect between public policy and public opinion. As District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis continues with her medical marijuana dispensary crackdown in San Diego, a new poll indicates that a hefty majority of city residents favor leaving the pot shops open and regulating them.

About 77 percent of San Diego's adult residents agree that the city has an obligation to ensure convenient access to medical marijuana and 69 percent say the drug should be treated like any other prescription drug.

Only 9 percent want to completely ban the dispensaries.

Dumanis received heavy publicity for saying there are "no such things" as legal marijuana dispensaries, despite state law. A voter initiative, Prop 215, legalized medical marijuana in California in 1996, and SB 420 clarified and expanded the law in 2003.

Read the rest at Chronic City in the SF Weekly blog, "The Snitch": Chronic City: Poll Reveals San Diegans Want To Regulate Marijuana Dispensaries, Not Eliminate Them | Digg story