Garden Grove Takes The Smart Route With Regulation

The battle against medical marijuana dispensaries continues throughout Orange County, of course, but a surprising turn for the better has taken place in Garden Grove. According to this story in the OC Register, Garden Grove, which had actually instituted an all-out medical marijuana ban in 2008, has decided to reject the “ban idea” in favor of having dispensaries register with the city. This makes a lot of economic sense for the city, which just spent almost $220,000 fighting a case that they inevitably lost. The joke here, sadly, is that the case was over 8 grams of medical marijuana. Which officially makes it the most expensive marijuana EVER, at $27,500 per gram!

I’ve said this before, but of course it always bears repeating: when you use the courts to fight a state law, the only people who win are attorneys. And that’s coming from an attorney! As the epic legal battles of Dana Point, Anaheim and Lake Forest continue to lumber on, pretty much everyone is losing – patients, city employees, politicians – while lawyers win. As these city councils are elected (often on business-minded platforms), I am consistently stunned that they make the absolute worst fiscal decisions when it comes to the issue of Medical Marijuana. Why wouldn’t you institute a “special local tax”? Or, as in the case of Garden Grove, “a registration fee”? You can’t stop progress here, so why not try to profit from it?

At any rate, kudos go to Garden Grove for at least showing some sense in this whole debate. Their lawyers aren’t going to like this, but their constituents surely will.