The Long Beach City Council Tuesday night reported that the City Clerk has declared that a citizens’ petition to hold a referendum on whether to allow the retail sale of marijuana does “not comply with the law’s requirements” and is invalid.
A certificate from City Clerk David Fraser, attached to the council’s regular agenda, said that of 718 signatures on the petition, only 391 “were valid.”
The state’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act requires petitions to be signed by registered voters “equal to at least 10 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor at the last gubernatorial election” in the city. Clerk’s statement aid that the total number of votes cast in Long Beach in the last election for governor was 12,613.
The council voted unanimously in December to opt out of a state plan that would have allowed for the sale of marijuana. The council can decide at some point to opt into the state program.
Council members said they would continue to monitor state policy as it issues rules and regulations in the future.
Nate Epstein of Lido Beach had worked on the petition drive.
“We fell short on our goal,” Epstein said. “Still, many of us” want the dispensaries. He said that many people he had talked to during the drive were unaware the council had opted out.
He added that “90 percent of Americans believe marijuana should be legal.”
James Mulvaney of Long Beach, who had run for city council two years ago, said he has “bad arthritis” and is now forced to drive to a dispensary in Carle Place for medical marijuana.
“I hope you will start to think of people who have a legitimate need for marijuana and we won’t have to drive out of town,” Mulvaney said.
Judy Vining, executive director of Long Beach Aware, commended the council for opting out of the state program.
“This council had its finger on the pulse of the community,” Vining said. She noted that many of the state’s municipalities had also opted out.
Long Beach and other municipalities had to decide by Dec. 31 whether they wanted to opt-out of the programs. But they still have the right to opt-in at a later date, if they wish. If a municipality had opted in, the decision is permanent.
The state will not be issuing licenses to open dispensaries until 2023, giving those who opted out plenty.
