San Jose mayor urges compromise on pot-club law

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said Tuesday he would consider softening the city's recently approved medical marijuana ordinance after critics succeeded in qualifying a referendum to repeal the new rules.

The ordinance the City Council approved in September would shrink the number of medical marijuana collectives allowed in the city from more than 100 to just 10, in addition to requiring them to grow all of the marijuana they distribute on site.

Critics collected more than 49,000 signatures in a month to repeal the law, which they argued would require the creation of marijuana superstores that federal drug agents would shut down.

Reed had said after the petitions were submitted last year that if the medical marijuana activists qualified a referendum he was inclined to let city voters decide on the ordinance in June. He also asked that the council at next week's meeting raise the city's tax on medical marijuana collectives from 7 to 10 percent to cover election costs.

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