Santa Ana residents to vote on 2 medical marijuana initiatives

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- The election on Santa Ana's marijuana initiatives is coming up. In less than three weeks, voters will decide on two ballot initiatives related to medical marijuana.

Cal State Fullerton student Kandice Hawes-Lopez helped put one of the measures on the ballot. She is putting her political science degree to use before she even graduates.

"Measure CC is the community's response to the problem of medical marijuana in Santa Ana," said Hawes-Lopez.

She took up the cause after she was convicted of a misdemeanor for possession of marijuana in 2000. The arrest made her ineligible for financial aid, forcing her to drop out of school.

"Not only were they taking away my education, but they were also impacting my ability to make a living afterwards. I felt like that was wrong," she said.

She's back in class now and hoping Measure CC will replace Santa Ana's current ban on medical marijuana dispensaries. But she's got competition. The city council wrote Measure BB to regulate collectives in the city, with stricter parameters than Hawes-Lopez's proposal.

"Making sure that our quality of life is still at a high level while at the same time, making sure that we can police and adequately regulate," said Sal Tinajero, Santa Ana mayor pro-tem.

The two measures differ on nearly every point:

• BB requires customers to be at least 21 years of age. CC says 18 is old enough.
• BB would require businesses to pay an additional five percent on the standard sales tax, growing up to 10 percent. CC requires a flat additional two percent.
• The council wants dispensaries to only operate between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. The citizens' measure says there should be no restrictions.
• Under BB, dispensaries would need to stay 1000 feet from schools, parks and residential areas, while CC closes the distance to 600 feet from K-12 schools.

The city also wants to restrict collectives to opening only in industrial areas, another point of contention.

"CC allows for those marijuana dispensaries to exist all over the city. That means that kids are going to be walking home from school going right past them," Tinajero said.

Hawes-Lopez argues that the two areas that the city wants to allow the dispensaries to be located are "too far and removed for people that are seriously ill and need to get their medicine."

Both measures need a majority vote to pass. If both are approved, the one with more yes votes will go into effect.