San Jose Pot Clubs Fail to Get Enough Signatures to Place Initiatives on Ballot

Efforts by San Jose marijuana dispensaries to fight off new city rules by placing two measure on the November ballot have failed.

The city clerk on Monday said the two ballot initiatives did not receive enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.

San Jose recently approved new zoning laws limiting where pot clubs can be located. The city also has new requirements on where pot can be grown and how the clubs security is set up.

Club owners said the the new rules ensure that nearly all of the city's estimated 100 medical marijuana clubs will have to close.

The clubs needed to gather just over 33,000 signatures for each initiative in 15 days to get the measures on the ballot, and even offered free samples to try and get voters to sign on. Officials said the clubs received about 22,000 signatures for each initiative.

Doug Hodges, who helped organize the petition drive, said the fight is not over. The clubs now plan to file several lawsuits to block San Jose's new pot rules. One claim is that the new city ordinance violates federal health care laws.

"Everybody loses. There's a bunch of people that will be put out of work," Hodges said. "It'll be much harder for patients to get medication and the city will get less tax revenue."

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