Fresh off the heels of the Santa Maria City Council’s unanimous vote to ban personal cultivation of medical marijuana, Guadalupe was set to consider a similar ordinance at its Tuesday, Dec. 8, council meeting.
Note: The Sun was not able to report the results of the City Council meeting because it occurred after press time.
Update: On Dec. 8, the Guadalupe City Council voted unanimously to ban the personal and commercial cultivation of medical marijuana and voted 3-2 to ban delivery.
At its Nov. 10 meeting, the City Council voted to continue to ban “fixed-place” medical marijuana dispensaries. At the meeting, council members will take action on three issues: personal and commercial cultivation of marijuana, and mobile medical marijuana dispensaries.
The move by the Guadalupe City Council comes two months after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a trio of laws—Senate Bill 643 and Assembly Bills 243 and 266—collectively known as the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act. One of the laws, AB 243, allows local governments to take control of regulating dispensaries and cultivation of medical marijuana.
Local governments are taking up the issue now since AB 243 imposes a March 1, 2016, deadline to enact local ordinances, although state lawmakers are in the process of writing another law that eliminates the deadline, according to Paul Ramey, a spokesperson for Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg)—the principal author of AB 243.
AB 243 wasn’t intended to allow local governments to essentially “undo” the purpose of Proposition 215, according to Ramey, who added that at least two dozen cities and counties throughout the state have enacted similar bans.
“Most will fight it out in court,” Ramey told the Sun.
If a ban on personal cultivation turns out to be unconstitutional, then the city has a “fallback” to allow that and commercial cultivation in specific zones on a case-by-case basis, according to a city staff report.
Councilmember Virginia Ponce doesn’t want personal cultivation in the city, believing that it could attract crime, such as burglaries. However, she said she isn’t so sure about allowing commercial cultivation in the city because there may not be enough designated space.
“I think we have to consider all of those people that rely on medical marijuana,” Ponce told the Sun. “I wouldn’t want to deprive them of that.
“For commercial cultivation, I don’t think we have any land for that,” she said. “We’re kind of landlocked in Guadalupe.”
This article appears in Dec 10-17, 2015.
