Nov. 14--Medical marijuana facilities in Chicago would be required to have around-the-clock security guards under proposed city regulations endorsed Thursday by the City Council Zoning Committee.
Aldermen said they wanted to require the presence of licensed private security contractors 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week at all city marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers because of the cash-only nature of the business. The rule would go beyond what the state requires.
Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, the primary sponsor of the ordinance, cited a rash of burglaries and robberies in Colorado and California, where medical marijuana has been legal for years. He highlighted a California case in which a medical marijuana owner was tortured by people trying to determine where he kept his cash -- even though the incident occurred at the man's home and not a medical marijuana facility.
The proposed ordinance also would bar the display of marijuana, cannabis-infused products and paraphernalia where it can be seen from outside any of the 13 dispensaries or two cultivation centers allowed in the city.
"These reasonable requirements would go a long way towards helping to deter crime at medical cannabis cultivation centers and dispensing facilities," Burke said. "Given the unique public safety issues associated with medical marijuana facilities and the already severe demands that are placed on our police department, businesses should take these reasonable precautions to keep their customers, employees and surrounding communities safe."
State law already requires 24-hour video surveillance, "enclosed, locked" facilities and provisions for "safe delivery" but doesn't require around-the-clock guards to be present. But many of the applications being considered by the state and the Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals lay out much tougher security protocols than those required by the state.
Much of the problem lies with the fact that federally regulated financial institutions have refused to allow credit card purchases of marijuana because the drug remains illegal under federal law, a security consultant told aldermen at the hearing. That means the cash-based businesses are "a magnet for criminals who like the idea of unguarded counting rooms and shelves lined with lucrative cannabis plants," said James Smith, a former inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service who is a consultant in the medical marijuana industry.
The ordinance is set to be considered Wednesday by the full council, as is another measure endorsed Thursday by the Zoning Committee that would regulate signs on buildings along the Chicago River between Lake Shore Drive and Roosevelt Road.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, proposed the sign ordinance after New York real estate mogul Donald Trump emblazoned his own name in 2,891-square-foot sign on his skyscraper on Wabash Avenue just north of the river.
Under the proposal, buildings along the river in the future would only be allowed a single sign, with a maximum size of 550 square feet, that must be placed "at the highest point of the building," said city zoning administrator Patricia Scudiero. Businesses along the first or second floors of those buildings also would be allowed to put up signs that meet current city regulations for business signs.
Tribune reporter Robert McCoppin contributed.
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