Cannabis regulation, where do local entities stand?
Last week the state’s Senate voted in favor of Senate Bill 94 which in essence is expected to integrate the rules for medical and recreational use of marijuana into a single regulatory structure.
Once the bill gets the signature from the Governor it will make the Bureau of Cannabis Control the main regulatory agency. Also, licenses will be obtained as an M-License for medicinal and A-License for adult use.
The bill eliminates vertical integration rules with the exception of large-scale cultivators as the cultivation of marijuana has to be done in a facility no larger than 22,000 square feet, licenses for producing dispensary licenses and transporter licenses will not be available yet with the legislation. The bill will allow a physical facility with no public access, to be used as a base for deliveries.
Additional regulations include that cultivators must state in their state application what source of water they are using and also the Department of Food and Agriculture will establish standards to designate the product’s country of origin.
The state is expected to adopt their own set of regulation on marijuana early next year, which has cities and county scrambling to adopt their own policies that fit their community in time instead of having their rules be written at the state level.
County, Calexico lead the way in the Valley
As early as September of last year the city of Calexico began to look into options at their disposal to make in order to set regulations that would benefit the city.
On Feb. 15, Calexico City Council approved an ordinance to allow and regulate facilities to cultivate, manufacture and distribute marijuana, while putting in place a ban on dispensaries to open within city limits.
Calexico City Manager Armando Villa said the city took this approach based on research in which they found that the establishment of dispensaries often had secondary and tertiary effects such as large congregations of users in the vicinity of the stores as well as the additional need to police those areas.
The latest actions taken there came Wednesday when the city adopted two new ordinances, one to set a specific Cannabis Overlay Zone and another to set the regulatory mechanism that applicants must comply with to get a license.
The set of rules enacted in the city of Calexico will allow the cultivation, manufacturing, transportation, distribution and laboratory testing of cannabis. The city will grant no more than 10 licenses per activity and no one applicant can get more than two as a measure to prevent monopolization of the industry.
Villa said the way the regulatory framework of the city has been designed is to meet three objectives set by the council which includes economic development, promote construction in areas that need to be cleaned up and proper taxing to generate revenue.
“We’re taking our own approach in order to capitalize on the economic opportunities of the industry while still meeting the goals set by our council,” Villa said.
The newly adopted ordinances will pave the way for future cannabis related development in the city. Villa said he’s confident their regulatory framework will work well. He added the city expects within five years to generate between $250,000 to $3 million in additional annual revenue coming from the cannabis industry.
The area that the city has designated for cannabis cultivation covers 354 acres along the northwest portion of the city and is bounded by railroad tracks to the west, the Adler canal to the north, West Van de Graff Avenue and Scaroni Avenue on the east and Weakley Street and Camacho Road to the south.
Also, earlier this month the county Board of Supervisors gave staff direction of possible guidelines pertaining to the permitting and regulating of medicinal marijuana in the unincorporated areas of the county.
The board voted June 6 to direct staff to draft ordinances to consider allowing and regulating the cultivation of both medicinal and recreational marijuana, limit the cultivation areas, allow a single medical dispensary, ban recreational dispensaries and draft a plan to put in place a local tax.
Among the rest of the cities in the Valley, Brawley voted Wednesday to approve two ordinances to eliminate the presence of marijuana as much as state law allows them.
One of the approved ordinances declares it unlawful for any person to use cannabis while that individual is in any building or facility owned, leased or occupied by the city, and a second to allow the city to exert local control over commercial activities in the future.
Currently, the city has a ban on medical dispensaries, but there is no ban for adult-use meaning a person may obtain a license to operate in the city through the state if the city doesn’t take action by the end of the year.
Also, the city of El Centro was set to give direction to staff on crafting an ordinance but delayed a decision due to the sudden approval of SB 94 at the state level and more time was given to staff to report on the new legislation before seeking direction from the council.
During Tuesday’s meeting a timetable was also presented by staff and would have an ordinance drafted by late July, then hold public workshops in mid-August. An ordinance could be ready for action as fast as October. Council will revisit the item at its next meeting on July 18.
Despite the delay, the city of El Centro made it clear they do not intend to allow adult-use dispensaries within its city limits and will discuss the possibility of regulating medical marijuana dispensaries. During the meeting, Councilman Jason Jackson said he wouldn’t support marijuana in any form and Mayor Pro Rem Cheryl Viegas-Walker expressed concern on the possible secondary effects if the council were to allow such facilities.
Calls and emails to the city of Imperial were not returned before press time when seeking comment of possible future action on the matter. The city, however, voted to approve a temporary ban on medical marijuana dispensaries early last year.