A measure to repeal Proposition D, a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, has been certified, and the City Council will now decide whether to adopt the measure or put it on the ballot, the City Clerk’s office announced Friday.
The measure calls for creating a permitting process that would replace the ban. It was put forward by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, a labor union, and the UCBA Trade Association, which consists of dispensaries that were given immunity to continue operating under Proposition D despite the ban.
The clerk has ruled that the 103,903 signatures that proponents submitted for the measure are sufficient, and exceeds the minimum 61,487 signatures that were necessary to qualify for the ballot.
The City Council has 20 days, or until Nov. 1, to choose whether to adopt the measure or schedule it for an upcoming election.
The proponents are aiming to put the measure on the March 2017 ballot. The proposed measure is a response to a state law going into effect Jan. 1, 2018, that will require municipalities to set up some type of permitting or licensing procedure for marijuana-related activity.
Marijuana dispensaries that are under immunity from Proposition D would no longer be able to operate if a permitting system is not in place by the time the state law kicks in.
