Should recreational pot be dispensed in Monticello?

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

City officials appearac to be of a mindset that if recreational marijuana were to be legalized and medical marijuana dispensaries were to dispense it in the town, it would simply be part of the free enterprise system.
They want, however, citizens’ input before definitely deciding the matter.
The comments from Monticello City Council members were in response to a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries within the city limit that the Local Planning Agency (LPA) recommended.
City Attorney Bruce Leinback, who also advises the LPA, presented the latter’s recommendation to the council on Tuesday, March 7.
Leinback explained that the reason for the proposal was that a statewide petition appears to be gaining the necessary signatures for the placement of an amendment on the ballot to legalize recreational marijuana.
Were the amendment to get on the ballot and voters to approve it, he said, medical marijuana dispensaries would be able to dispense recreational marijuana. The only way to prevent this from happening, he said, was to impose a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, which the law currently allows and which the council could always lift if it changed its mind. What it could not do, he said, was to impose a ban retroactively.
“Now it’s the time to act,” Leinback said.
The concern, he said, was that with Monticello being so near the state line, and with recreational marijuana being illegal in Georgia, a dispensary in town would become a magnet for people in the Peach State who wanted to access recreational marijuana.
“With our proximity to the state line, it’s reasonable to assume that if recreational marijuana is legal in Florida, a lot of people will be driving down to get it and we have no way to limit the number of dispensaries,” Leinback said.
Already, he noted, a company had inquired about the allowance of medical marijuana dispensaries within the city.
Florida law, he said, allows local governments to disallow medical marijuana dispensaries within their boundaries. And many communities, he said, had gone ahead and banned such facilities in expectation of the eventual legalization of the sale of recreational marijuana.
The council, however, took a different approach.
Councilman John Jones suggested that a workshop be held to get public input on the issue, rather than arbitrarily imposing a ban.
“We need input from the residents,” he said.
Councilman Troy Avera agreed that citizen input should be solicited, if only for the sake of transparency.
Councilwoman Julie Conley said she couldn’t support a ban on a business selling a product, especially a prescription drug.
“If Florida legalizes recreational marijuana, we just treat it like any retail product,” she said. “I don’t think we’re going to get throngs from people coming here. Tallahassee is closer.”
She also couldn’t see saying no to dispensaries when the city wanted clean businesses locating here, she added.
Councilman George Evans agreed that a workshop was warranted to get citizens’ input. Ultimately, the council decided to hold a discussion of the issue and seek public input at it next regularly scheduled meeting on April 4.