The owner of a shuttered marijuana dispensary is continuing his pursuit of ballot measures proposing to legalize up to two pot shops and implement a tax on sales.
Most recently, Scott McPhil and his Purple Cross RX club have submitted revised petition language for two prospective measures on the November ballot – one addressing dispensary-related zoning and the other having to do with the proposed sales tax, three percent over the first three years and seven percent thereafter. The new petitions include “minor changes” to the initial documents filed in the summer of 2013 such as reducing the number of proposed, allowed dispensaries in the county from three to two. McPhail initially submitted petitions for ballot measures in June 2013.
Those revisions prompted a re-start of sorts for the process, including the county counsel’s requirement to sum up the proposal for voters.
“As a result of filing a new initiative, we at the county counsel had to do another summary similar to the first,” County Counsel Matthew Granger said.
To qualify for the November ballot – which McPhail has indicated he wants to do – the proponents would have to gather the needed 1,642 signatures within 180 days of the petition filing April 9. McPhail’s supporters would have to do so by Aug. 8 in order to make the General Election ballot, said the county’s Assistant Clerk Angela Curro.
McPhail’s proposals are pushing to legalize medical marijuana, bar law enforcement officials from enforcing federal anti-pot laws, limit the number of dispensaries, and establish the sales tax amount. The initiative attempts are in response to the county board’s July 2011 decision to outlaw dispensaries in order to shut down McPhail’s Purple Cross RX now-closed shop on Bolsa Road. Since the ban, McPhail and the county have been immersed in a legal battle over the rules.
The Purple Cross director is possibly taking his disagreement to the ballot after the county’s ban and a subsequent lawsuit attempting to override the board’s decision. A judge in his decision against Purple Cross cited a California Supreme Court case allowing municipalities to ban such dispensaries through their local zoning ordinances.
The county has argued that the dispensing of marijuana violates the local zoning designation for that area along Bolsa Road calling for agricultural use, while Purple Cross attorneys have contended the dispensary is a seasonal agricultural operation because it grows and sells marijuana on site.
McPhail did not respond over phone, but submitted a statement by email that reads as follows:
“It is exciting to see this important patient’s rights issue back in the public discussion. There is a clear need in our community. We have an opportunity to get this on the ballot, we are at a disadvantage due to our late start, so we’ll be collecting signatures at 1980 Bolsa Rd (hwy 25) for anyone interested in supporting these initiatives.”
