By Ayako Mie/BERKELEY

Berkeley residents passed Measure JJ with a 62.3 percent vote on Tuesday, eliminating certain zoning restrictions on pot clubs and lifting the current 2.5-pound limit on the amount of medical marijuana patients can possess.

“Berkeley residents recognized that medical cannabis is working, and the collectives are managed with responsibility in Berkeley,” said Anthony James, the campaign manager for Measure JJ.

California legalized the use of medical marijuana 12 years ago with the passage of a voter initiative called the Compassionate Use Act. The city of Berkeley currently has three dispensaries.  However, lack of zoning rules on the dispensaries makes it harder for the planning commission to give dispensaries a permit for relocation.   Two of the dispensaries on San Pablo Avenue and Telegraph Avenue were faced being shut down, because their landlords decided to redevelop the property. 

The measure will enable the city’s three dispensaries to relocate to commercial or industrial areas without applying for a use permit or holding a public hearing. This measure would basically treat them the same as other businesses. in terms of zoning regulations. The pot clubs would exist as a “matter of right” and be able to move locations at will.

The measure will also lift the restriction on the amount of cannabis a patient or a caregiver can have  — currently 2.5 pounds in Berkeley.

“The city of Berkeley finally listens to the patients,” said Charles Pappas, a Berkeley resident of 35 years.  Pappas, who uses a wheelchair due to a serious spinal injury, buys medical cannabis from dispensaries in San Francisco, where they have more availability. Pappas said even the passage of Measure JJ alone cannot serve the needs of patients who have severe medical conditions, like HIV. “We need more than three dispensaries, and I would like to open another one,” he says.

Some people worry that the measure will create numerous pot clubs in Berkeley. However, the measure does not change the city’s current limit of three collective dispensaries, and does not affect a city rule that bans dispensaries from opening within 1000 feet of schools or each other.

  Measure JJ will also mandate that dispensaries establish a Peer Review Committee, which would write dispensaries self-imposed rules into law, such as an anti-diversion rule, which prohibits patients and caregivers from selling or giving marijuana to non-qualified people.   Thus, Anthony said, the measure would self-regulate medical cannabis more strictly. 

Federal law still prohibits anyone from possessing marijuana. However, the city of Berkeley has maintained a lenient policy towards medical marijuana, and approved a resolution opposing the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s raid on city dispensaries in January. 

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