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7.A. - Page 62 ATTACHN�NT 3 Ms. Ekas replied that is correct. The effect of the sunset clause would force reevaluation in two years whereas adopting the ban doesn't prohibit future amendment. Commissioner Bondonno asked that it doesn't preclude anything. Ms. Ekas replied yes. Mrs. Stevenson stated that if the sunset clause is not acted upon, the ban would expire. Commissioner Schmidt asked for a definition of expired. Mrs. Stevenson the proposed ban would end on the date of the sunset clause, and there would be no more regulation. That is the effect of the sunset clause, forcing the council to tinker with the article in the future. Chair Borgens asked for clarification that there would be no criteria established. Mrs. Stevenson replied that certain cities have decided that since the use is not defined in the zoning code, they don't recognize the use and they feel that not recognizing the use is enough to not accept the applications, but that is not the clearest way to go about the issue. PUBLIC HEARING Joel Garcia spoke against the ban on the medical marijuana dispensaries. He referred to the 1996 proposition 215, which more people vote for than voted for President Clinton. He noted that in the bay area peninsula the need of patients is not being met, with the delivery services being fairly new, and the option to grow your own cannabis not being viable for most patients. He cited a case in which administrative law judge Francis Young declared marijuana as one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. He cited the figures of how many people die yearly from legal recreational substances such as tobacco and alcohol. He stated that there are more violent incidents at clubs and bars than at cannabis dispensaries, and in neighborhoods in San Francisco and Oakland crime has decreased around cannabis dispensaries. Jonathan Steigman, Americans for Safe Access, spoke on behalf of patients who could not show up to the hearing because they are afraid of losing their jobs, apartments, and children. He stated there are no corollaries between cannabis dispensaries and crime, noting that convenience stores are robbed more frequently than dispensaries. He stated that the patients that are most concerning are low and fixed income, are homebound, or want to pick their medicine up personally rather than have it delivered because of the different strains of inedicine. He stated that there has not been a credible case of death as a result of cannabis during the ten thousand years it has been used, and he urged the commission to use science and reason rather than hysteria. Medical marijuana is used for physical disorders such as cancer and AIDS as well as psychological disorders such as ADD and PTSD. Josh Griffith Jr. spoke in favor of allowing the moratorium to expire. He stated the city could use the revenue from dispensaries to support city activities and events. He stated Page 10 of 16