Pot for the Palisades?

PPCC Hears Dire Warnings in Wake of Marijuana Legalization

By DEBORAH STAMBLER and JOHN HARLOW

Could a recreational marijuana dispensary be coming to the Palisades?

If so, Palisadians should know marijuana is a “gateway drug” that’s likely to damage adolescent brains and trigger serious mental illnesses, including schizophrenia.

This was the warning from experts invited to address the Pacific Palisades Community Council on Thursday, Jan. 26 in the wake of California Proposition 64, which last November legalized marijuana for recreational as well as medical use.

Adults over 21 can now use marijuana in public places where smoking is allowed, cultivate up to six plants and possess up to one ounce of marijuana or eight ounces of concentrated cannabis.

Licensed retail stores are expected to open across California beginning next January.

Any future attempts to set up a dispensary in the Palisades may face the same kind of stern opposition that has limited alcohol sales in the town, a stance that could influence city of Los Angeles planners who would still have to authorize such retail outlets.

PPCC member Stuart Muller linked marijuana and alcohol directly, saying this was why past PPCC administrations have stood against all liquor licenses in the Palisades—and that included a current debate about alcohol sales at the proposed new Shell station on Sunset.

When that license was raised at a recent PPCC meeting some members of the public booed.

More than two-thirds of Palisadian voters backed Prop 64, which only legalizes the use of marijuana for adults.

Prop 64 expressly bans the use, sale or possession of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, daycare or youth center.

Invited speakers focused on the effects of marijuana on children. This is a critical emerging issues across many Californian communities, who fear that children are most vulnerable to the chemical effects of this drug, especially on developing brains.

Dr. Cori Cross, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital and a Palisadian member of the American Academy of Pediatricians, warned that “chronic” use of the chemical THC “could lead to a higher incidence of depression, bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia in adulthood.”

It could also “impair executive function (memory, cognitive processing), lower IQ and [lead to] addiction,” she warned.

Both she and Veronica de la Cruz Robles, West Los Angeles neighborhood prosecutor, called marijuana a “gateway drug.”

This is a phrase devised in 1981 as part of the “War on Drugs” that is expected to be revived by President Donald Trump.

Enhanced federal enforcements could undermine the state’s right to set its own drug policy.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, which last year challenged claims that marijuana uniquely “cross-sensitized” users and made them more likely to move onto “harder” drugs, saying such habits develop in households where there is alcohol, tobacco and prescription medicines, is facing an uncertain future under the new administration.

Some PPCC members felt that curbing juvenile marijuana use should be handled by parents, who also can ban or set limits on other substances ranging from wine to sugar.

“Parents should be cognizant of what their kids are doing,” Robles repeatedly urged.

Others felt it was a very one-sided range of speakers. PPCC representative Reza Akef urged the council to invite alternative speakers before making any policy decisions.

Akef, who represents the Riviera on the council, said he did not smoke marijuana “but I know that pot is now stronger than it used to be in the 1970s (a speaker said the active ingredient THC has risen from four to 17 percent), but I am told that means people smoke less of it. One puff, only.

“We have to protect children strongly, but that is not an excuse to curb adult choices,” he said.

Zoning restrictions are likely to keep pot shops away from most areas of the Palisades due to proximity of schools and parks. There are already several medical marijuana clinics in Santa Monica and Malibu, which also boast a strong ecosystem of addiction centers.

However, given the strong interest at the meeting, it seems likely that PPCC will open this discussion again with an eye toward establishing a “family-friendly” policy for the Palisades.