CITY HALL — A powerful alderman who has repeatedly raised issues over medical marijuana advanced an ordinance Thursday requiring dispensaries to have round-the-clock security — when they finally get up and running.
Citing how many banks feel they're not legally allowed to handle even state-authorized medical marijuana income, Ald. Edward Burke (14th) said, "As a result, all-cash medical marijuana businesses pose unique and serious public safety concerns."
Burke went on to read horror stories stating that Denver's 700 licensed marijuana stores had suffered 317 burglaries and seven robberies over the past two years, and that one California dispensary owner had been tortured with a blowtorch and had his penis cut off by criminals trying to find a suspected cash stash.
"I'm not making this up, ladies and gentlemen," Burke told a meeting of the Zoning Committee. "This is what's going on."
Burke put forth an amended ordinance calling on medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers to have round-the-clock security and to keep their products out of public view. But he dropped an earlier demand that they also make all pickups and deliveries out of public view, now allowing that was "unreasonable."
Kathleen Kane-Willis, of Roosevelt University's Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, said she wasn't sure how reasonable the other requirements were.
"We have one of the most restrictive medical marijuana laws in the nation," she said. "Obviously, the need for security is important. But that can take many forms, and I don't know why you'd need to have armed guards there 24-seven."
She said that "these issues are not new," adding that "there's a relatively robust system" already in place to handle medical marijuana.
"Creating more restrictive practices is only going to make it more difficult for people to get the medicine they want," she said.
Kane-Willis said she found it more disturbing that none of the current applicants for the city's maximum number of 13 dispensaries was on the South or West Side. "We've already got unequal access," she said. "So adding another burden to the industry is not helpful for the patient."
Ald. James Cappleman (46th) and Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) both expressed support for medical marijuana, yet backed Burke's proposal.
"I want to make sure these facilities are safe," Cappleman said.
Burnett cited how dispensary applicants before the Zoning Board of Appeals had presented their detailed security plans. Yet he quickly added Burke's ordinance would force them to "put their money where their mouth is," saying, "I support this 100 percent."
The measure passed by voice vote without opposition and heads to the full City Council for passage next week. The city could eventually have 13 dispensaries and a cultivation center, and Burke posited the state could authorize the first dispensaries before the end of the year.
