$1.1M in tax expected
medicinal purposes.
City Manager Lydia Romero said the council could expect to hear about creating a formal ordinance for the legal sale of recreational cannabis by February or March.
“I’m so glad to hear we are in tune with what’s happening in La Mesa, and I hope it can apply in Lemon Grove,” said City Councilman David Arambula. He noted that “the will of the voters” shows that this is an opportune time for the city to create policies that will allow for recreational use.
In this year’s election, nearly three-quarters of Lemon Grove voters said yes
to taxing the city’s cannabis dispensaries. The tax rates will not exceed 8 percent of gross receipts for retail cannabis businesses, and 4 percent for all other cannabis businesses.
City voters had previously passed a measure in 2016 that allowed for the sale of medical marijuana. That same year, California voters passed Proposition 64, which decriminalized nonmedical cannabis and established a regulatory system for commercial cannabis activity in the state.
“Medicinal and recreational marijuana are here to stay, however you feel about them,” Jones said. “Medicinal is already legal by a vote of the people, and there’s no reason for a ban on recreational when we can make the acquisition of it safe — and put a little money in the city’s coffers.”
Lemon Grove expects to
generate between $560,000 to $1.1 million annually from the tax, which will go toward funding general municipal expenses such as fire, safety, roads and recreation.
Several residents sent letters to the city lauding staff members for moving ahead on recreational marijuana sales. Others shared their concerns about the dangers of marijuana in general.
Terri-Ann Skelly wrote that “this is a bad time to encourage more pot use through vaping and smoking marijuana and tobacco, especially in light of Covid-19. Vaping and smoking weakens the lungs, the very health issue dominant in Covid 19 which attacks the respiratory system.”
Kathleen Lippitt, a public health practitioner and public policy advocate from Poway, also chimed in. Lippitt, who said she is on the
Coastal Communities Drug Free Coalition, cited higher incidents of lung disease because of electronic methods of smoking. She said she was concerned about the high potency of tetrahydrocannabinol in marijuana. THC is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects.
Lippitt wrote that society is grappling with “increased patient risk for addiction due to the stress of isolation, boredom and decreased access to recovery resources during COVID complications.”
She said the city neglected “the most important consideration, prioritizing protecting children and families from the unanticipated harmful outcomes of commercializing and normalizing marijuana.”