On June 7, San Jose voters will decide on a ballot measure that would allow medical marijuana collectives in parts of the city where they’re currently banned. But organized support for Measure C is in disarray.
A coalition called Sensible San Jose launched the initiative nearly two years ago after the city council passed a sweeping ordinance to rein in more than 100 pot clubs that had been allowed to proliferate in the city.
But recently, the author of Measure C dropped a bomb on the campaign by urging San Jose residents to vote no. Oakland lawyer James Anthony says the threat of his measure has already forced the city to back off on the most unworkable restrictions in the ordinance -- especially a requirement that clubs grow and process all their own product on site.
"And so Measure C, having accomplished its goal, is no longer necessary or really even a good idea," Anthony says.
But that’s irked some Measure C supporters who say Anthony’s own ballot argument in favor of the initiative still holds -- that the 16 dispensaries now registered under the city ordinance are not enough to meet patient needs.