By Nestor CASTIGLIONE

“The people have spoken,” in-toned Glendale City Spokesperson Tom Lorenz at a forum held Jan. 11 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium. His words referred to the passage of Prop 64 last November, which legalized the recreational use and cultivation of marijuana across the state.

Statewide support for Prop 64 carried the majority of voters, with 57.1% voting in favor. In Glendale the numbers were similar: 54% of voters supported the proposition, though support wavered across the city. South Glendale evinced the strongest support, while the areas of La Crescenta and those bordering La Cañada voted against.

The problem for city officials now is how to reconcile the state law with the city’s ordinances. Currently, Glendale does not allow the opening of marijuana dispensaries within city limits, nor does it permit home cultivation of the plant.

That appears set to change, as Lorenz explained during a forum held by the city to gauge how citizens felt about the matter. He also cited his experience with helping police officers detect when a suspect is under the influence of drugs.

“All [Glendale Police Department] officers are the most highly trained in under-the- influence cases,” he said. “I’m very proud to say that I went through the [detection] program in the 1980s and I now teach it across the country.”

For over an hour, he and other city officials heard the concerns of
a public whose numbers far exceeded the city’s prognostications.

Lorenz was quick to dispel myths that had accrued around the passage of Prop 64, including the manner in which marijuana would be permitted to be sold.

“Under Prop 64 it is illegal for a tobacco shop or a liquor store to sell marijuana,” he said. “Those establishments would not be able to convert and sell. Nothing is allowed.”

Lorenz also reminded the audience that any marijuana laws would fall in line with currently standing ordinances on smoking tobacco.

“Glendale has some of the strictest rules for smoking tobacco,” he said. “Those same laws apply to smoking marijuana.”

Another challenge facing the city is how the incoming Trump administration will proceed on recreational use of marijuana. Federal law recognizes marijuana as an illegal substance, regardless of legalization in several states. A memo issued in 2014 by Dept. U.S. Atty. Gen. James M. Cole eluci-dated the “hands-off” approach taken to the drug by President Obama’s administration, while still keeping its designation as illegal. However, President-elect Trump’s nominee for U.S. Atty. General Jeff Sessions appears to want a change in that approach. In the past he opined that marijuana legalization was a “tragic mistake.”

The public in attendance expressed sharply clashing and often passionate opinions on the matter.

“Why do we have to have any dispensaries in Glendale when one can buy it anywhere else?” asked one resident.

“The same reason you want to be able to buy tobacco or alcohol in your city,” another resident shot back. “For the convenience.”

Another resident mentioned her own experiences with marijuana in the 1970s as a warning to those who seek its legalization.

“I smoked it for five years,” she said. “It was mind-altering and I would go out driving, almost getting into two accidents. I have grave fears of people driving around [high] – and that scares me.”

Another man was dismayed about how medical marijuana was being treated at the forum.

“I’m a little upset about how [it’s] being swept under the rug here,” another resident said. “All they’re talking about is recreational marijuana and its pitfalls. This is truly medicine. Why can’t we be open and honest about it?”

For one woman concerns about children were paramount.

“I work with youth. For adults to say that we don’t need to think about kids is a bit ignorant. I grew up in the streets. Controlling the use and sale of alcohol is a huge problem in that community. Children are part of the community and you can’t just say to leave them out of the conversation.”

Future forums on the subject will be held, although exact dates are currently pending.

The city is urging concerned residents to make themselves heard via an online survey which can be found at http://glendaleca.gov/government/prop-64/prop-64-survey.

  Nestor CASTIGLIONE