Adopted Minutes - Advisory Neighborhood Commission 4B
The meeting began at about 7:05 p.m. at the MPD's
Community Room,
Actions
1. The agenda was
adopted following a 2-5-0 roll-call vote on an amendment proposed by
Commissioner Jones. That amendment would
have cut the medical marijuana item . Voting "yes" to the amendment were
Commissioners Smith and Jones. Voting
"no" were Commissioners Green, Wheeler, Speaks,
2. In a 6-1-0
roll-call vote following a motion from Commissioner Green, the Commission
adopted a resolution, with friendly amendments, in partial support of B18-716,
the "Open Government is Good Government Act of 2010." The bill is
before the D.C. City Council's Committee on Government Operations and the
Environment.
Voting "yes" to the motion were Commissioners
Green, Wheeler, Smith, Speaks, Jones and
The adopted resolution:
”ANC 4B strongly
endorses the goal of the Open Government is Good Government Act of 2010,
B18-716, to make government more transparent to its constituents. However, we believe that there are changes
that would bring the Bill closer to that goal.
First, we agree with
expert testimony from groups representing reporters and others that there are
very few valid situations that require closing "quasi-judicial"
meetings, that these meetings are precisely what the public should be able to
see, and that Section (d)(2)(N) on Page 5 provides too wide an exemption. We therefore request that this section detail
those specific situations where privacy considerations require a closed
meeting.
Second, Advisory
Neighborhood Commissioners should not be subject to lawsuits and fines for
violations of this Act. We recommend
that they be exempted from those sections and that a provision be added
requiring that a Commissioner sued in connection with his/her position as a
Commissioner be defended by the Office of the Attorney General.
Third, we recommend that the requirements for notice and disclosure be tailored, in the case of ANCs, to our role and resources.
Specifically, we
would limit the requirement for notice in the DC Register to our yearly meeting
schedule, and would require that notice of individual meetings be made in
venues more suitable to our constituencies and resources, such as web pages,
local listserves, and/or other local media and
locations. The Mayor should provide a
web site, staffed appropriately, for these notices.
Also, requirements to
provide recordings and transcripts within three days or less are inappropriate
and impractical for ANCs.
Finally, we request
that it be made clear that we can, at most, provide notice of proposed agendas,
since our agendas are not official until adopted after possible amendment.
Similarly, we note that minutes are not official until adopted.
We submit these
recommendations as per D.C. Code Section 1-309.10(a) and related provisions,
which require that D.C. government bodies place "great weight" on
these recommendations and respond to them in a timely manner.
Advisory Neighborhood
Commission 4B designates every Commissioner to speak or write on this
resolution as it affects his or her constituents as long as his or her
statements include a copy of this resolution and do not conflict with this
resolution."
The vote followed a
lengthy discussion with Ward 4 Council Member Muriel Bowser, one of the bill's
authors.
Commissioner Green
said the bill would place unnecessary and unreasonable requirements on Advisory
Neighborhood Commissions, including placing agendas in the DC Register and
making tape recordings of meetings available to the public within one day, in
some cases. Also, Commissioners Green and Speaks and others said they oppose
provisions that expose Commissioners to possible fines and nuisance lawsuits.
Commissioner Wheeler
noted that the term "public meeting" means that the public can
attend, but ANC 4B and other bodies can establish their own rules for public
participation.
Commissioner Green and
ANC 5C12 Commissioner Gigi Ransom said they are concerned that quasi-judicial
panels, including the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and the Zoning
Commission, could close meetings during their deliberative sessions.
Council Member Bowser
said she would work to amend the bill to resolve the Commission's
concerns. Existing ANC notice
requirements are already extensive, so the DC Register requirement could be
eliminated, she said. She also said she
would look at changes to protect Commissioners from nuisance lawsuits and
fines, but was not sure what language was appropriate.
She agreed that the
bill's provisions permitting closed meetings for quasi-judicial panels are too
broad and should be narrowed to sessions where proprietary information is
discussed.
Commissioner Smith
said she supported opening ANC planning meetings. Commissioner Jones said ANC
4B's planning meetings are now open to the public. Council Member Bowser said the meetings are
not open unless they are advertised in the same manner as other Commission
meetings.
3. In a 5-0-0
show-of-hands vote following a resolution made by Commissioner Green that
included several friendly amendments, the Commission adopted a resolution with
recommendations to the Office of the Mayor with respect to proposed regulations
for the sale and cultivation of medical marijuana.
The adopted
resolution:
Title 22 of the DCMR, which would provide detailed regulations for medical marijuana cultivation centers and dispensaries. We believe that these regulations will protect the public from the abuses experienced in other states while providing patients in need with medical marijuana.
We propose that these regulations be amended to give the D.C. Department of Health (DOH) the sole responsibility for enforcing all of these regulations for the following reasons:
* Medical marijuana is a new industry in our city and dividing responsibilities between two agencies increases the potential for error. Medical marijuana is a drug. DOH currently regulates and supervises pharmacists and pharmacies where drugs with the potential for abuse are sold. DOH has staff with the appropriate professional backgrounds.
* Medical marijuana is a drug to be used by sick people, not a recreational drug like alcohol. Therefore, putting the agency that regulates the sale of alcohol in charge of medical marijuana sends the wrong message to the public.
* Medical marijuana is a new and controversial D.C. program that needs the full confidence of the community, particularly in the location of dispensaries and cultivation centers. Communities need to know that ANCs will have genuine "great weight," as the law promises, with respect to those licenses and their location.
Additionally, we recommend that ANCs have veto power, rather than "great weight," over the licensing of a cultivation center or a dispensary within their Commission boundaries.
The selection of medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers should be based on merit, and not on "first come, first served."
We recommend that the retail component of this law be revisited to put the dispensing of medical marijuana in a medical facility.
We also endorse the provisions that initial licenses for both cultivation centers and dispensaries be issued for only one year, with annual renewal required, which will give communities and regulators an opportunity to correct problems quickly and evaluate performance. License renewals should be predicated on correcting the cited problems, if any.
In addition, several community representatives, including at least two Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, plus a qualifying patient and one doctor with expertise in the use of medical marijuana, should be added to all boards and panels overseeing medical marijuana.
We submit these
recommendations as per D.C. Code Section 1-309.10(a) and
related provisions. This law requires that D.C. government bodies,
including the D.C. City Council and the Mayor, among others, place "great
weight" on these recommendations and respond to them in a timely manner.
Advisory Neighborhood
Commission 4B designates every Commissioner to speak or write on this
resolution as it affects his or her constituents, as long as his or her
statements include a copy of this resolution. "
4. In a 5-0-0 show-of-hands vote following a motion made by Commissioner Green, the seventh paragraph of the resolution that begins with the words, "[t]he selection of medical marijuana dispensaries..," is amended to say, "[t]he selection of medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers should be based on merit, and not on 'first come, first served.'"
There was a lengthy discussion and debate prior to the vote, with presentations from Susan Mottet, of Council Member David Catania's office, and Caren Woodson, of Americans For Safe Access.
Commissioners Smith and Jones said they are very concerned
that the cultivation centers and dispensaries will attract crime and create
problems similar to those created by the methadone centers that were located on
Commissioner Jones said she wants medical marijuana sold in a medical facility, where the public cannot identify customers, not in a stand-alone retail space. Methadone is now dispensed in a hospital, she added. Commissioner Sydnor said pharmacies are a good place to sell medical marijuana.
Cliff Valenti, the Chair of ANC
1A, said he remembers the negative impact of the methadone centers and said the
Ms. Woodson and others explained that federal regulations make it very difficult to put a dispensary in a medical facility or a pharmacy. A pharmacist who dispenses medical marijuana will lose his or her license.
Andy Catanzaro, of ANC 4B02, a physician who treats HIV and AIDS patients, said medical marijuana could have a detrimental effect on an HIV patient but has value for AIDS patients. Ms. Woodson disagreed and said that marijuana is effective on nausea, a problem for HIV patients. She said that patients, including some in wheelchairs, are now forced to purchase marijuana in open-air drug markets and that several members of her family are suffering because they cannot get it.
Nicholas Schiller, of Safe Access, noted that the proposed regulations, among other things, prohibit patients from opening packages of marijuana in the dispensing center or in the street, a rule designed to protect communities from illegal drug sales.
John Pylka, of the DC Statehood Party, said DC voters approved permitting medical marijuana to be sold and instructed the City to set rules to sell it safely. Those who need it deserve access to it and compassion.
Commissioner Wheeler said legal access needs to be given
to those who need it. She noted that only five to eight centers will be
permitted in DC, compared to hundreds that sprang up in
Wanda Oates, of ANC 4B05, a health teacher in the DC Public Schools, said cigarettes are more detrimental to health than medical marijuana.
Ms. Woodson asked that ANC 4B recommend that the DC Department of Health, not the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration, have complete authority over medical marijuana, that a patient representative be added to the advisory committee, and that licenses be approved on merit, not on "first-come, first-served."
Kathy Borris-Hale, of Ward 4, asked that ANC 4B recommend that license applications be approved on merit and that only DC residents should be issued licenses.
The meeting adjourned at around 9:40 p.m.
---- Submitted By Sara Green, Secretary