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WHEREAS, the recent November 2014 election included a proposed <br />amendment to the Florida Constitution, "Amendment 2," which would have <br />legalized medical marijuana use in the state of Florida. The Amendment failed to <br />achieve the required 60% approval for passage, although it received some 58% <br />approval from Florida voters; and <br />WHEREAS, well over 50% of Florida voters approved of legalizing <br />medical marijuana, and the Florida Legislature may consider authorizing same <br />during the 2015 legislative session; and <br />WHEREAS, in 1996, California became the first state to legalize the use <br />of medical marijuana, and several other states subsequently enacted laws <br />legalizing medical marijuana in various circumstances; and <br />WHEREAS, the California Police Chiefs Association developed a Task <br />Force on Marijuana Dispensaries, which prepared the "White Paper on Marijuana <br />Dispensaries" ( "White Paper "), published in 2009; and <br />WHEREAS, the White Paper examined the direct and indirect adverse <br />impacts of marijuana dispensaries in local communities and indicated that <br />marijuana dispensaries may attract or cause ancillary crimes, and may cause <br />adverse effects, such as marijuana smoking in public, the sale of other illegal <br />drugs at dispensaries, loitering and nuisances, and increased traffic near <br />dispensaries; and <br />WHEREAS, the White Paper further indicates that marijuana dispensing <br />businesses in a community may contribute to the existence of a secondary <br />market for illegal, street -level distribution of marijuana; and <br />WHEREAS, the White Paper outlines the following typical complaints <br />received from individuals regarding certain marijuana dispensary areas: high <br />levels of traffic going to and from the dispensaries, people loitering in the parking <br />lot of the dispensaries, people smoking marijuana in the parking lot of the <br />dispensaries, vandalism near dispensaries, threats made by dispensary <br />employees to employees of other businesses, and citizens worried that they may <br />become crime victims due to their proximity to dispensaries; and <br />WHEREAS, the White Paper found that many medical marijuana <br />dispensary owners had histories of drug and violence - related arrests, that <br />records or lack of records showed that some owners were not properly reporting <br />income generated from the sales of marijuana, that some medical marijuana <br />businesses were selling to individuals without serious medical conditions, and <br />that the California law had no guidelines on the marijuana which could be sold to <br />an individual; and <br />WHEREAS, the White Paper ultimately concludes there are many adverse <br />secondary effects created by medical marijuana dispensaries in communities; <br />and <br />2 <br />