Group Works to Legalize Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Ventura County

Medical marijuana dispensaries are illegal in Ventura County, but a group advocating for medical marijuana users is trying to change that.

The group cites a recent survey it conducted that shows a majority of Ventura and Oxnard voters welcome a medical marijuana dispensary in their city. The group is now taking this survey to city officials in Oxnard and Ventura and hoping they will lift the ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Ventura County medical marijuana users are currently unable to get their medication legally in their own city. Precision Politics interviewed 300 voters in Oxnard and 300 Voters in Ventura to find their stance on the issue. The poll found that 57 percent of voters in Oxnard and 59 percent of voters in Ventura are in favor of allowing a limited number of medical marijuana dispensaries to open up in their city.

“There are literally hundreds of conditions for which medical marijuana is recommended by professionals. Right now in Ventura County there is no safe, legal access, so people are forced to drive all the way to Los Angeles to obtain medical marijuana, or they obtain their medical marijuana in the gray market. What we advocate is safe and legal access from trained professionals,” said Marc O’Hara with Precision Politics.

The Ventura City Council voted on banning medical marijuana dispensaries, collectives and delivery services in 2013. The City of Oxnard banned medical marijuana dispensaries in 2007.

If the group’s negotiations with Oxnard and Ventura go nowhere, it plans on gathering enough signatures to get a measure before local voters on the ballot.