San Juan Bautista City Council members held a marijuana study session at city hall on June 14 to discuss aspects of medicinal and recreational marijuana that could potentially affect the city.
Councilman Dan DeVries in April suggested the study session take place after the council agreed it had more questions than answers about cannabis.
This is not the first time the city has dealt with marijuana on the agenda. In 2011, the city council issued an ordinance banning dispensaries, deliveries and growth of medical marijuana. In 2015, the city was approached by Purple Cross Rx to rescind the ban but council members quickly dismissed the applicant, and continued to uphold the ban.
Approved by voters in November, Prop. 64 sets statewide regulations on the sale and cultivation of marijuana for commercial and personal use. It also allows cities to exert local control over non-medical marijuana commercial activities, including banning sales.
Parts of Prop. 64 went into effect immediately, including allowing recreational use for those who are 21 years old or above. However, commercial sales will not be legal until 2018.
City Attorney Deborah Mall presented the council with a brief legal background on medicinal and recreational marijuana, explaining different facilities that are permitted under the laws and regulations and potential methods of revenue generation such as taxes and development fees.
She said, “Everything is contingent on whether you act and whether you want it in San Juan Bautista, but also if there’s any place for it.”
Former Hollister City Councilman Victor Gomez gave a presentation on Hollister’s Medicinal Cannabis Administrative Ordinance, which passed with a 3-2 vote, allowing a maximum of two medical cannabis dispensaries within city limits and focusing on cultivation. He also addressed the county’s discussion about cannabis.
“The consensus from the Board of Supervisors at that time — the direction that they gave me was to focus on cultivation. So from Day 1 we focused on a policy, on an ordinance that the county Board of Supervisors could really deal with and one that they think could garner the votes to really pass,” Gomez said.
He added that the county is focusing solely cultivation.
“We ran into a couple of issues in South County, specifically south of the county fairgrounds, when it comes to enforcement,” he said. “The sheriff had concerns with going out to these rural areas like Paicines, New Idria, where there are currently illegal cultivations. We found that it would be pretty tough for us to get out there and have staff, code enforcement, our deputies go out there. So what the county decided to do is to essentially limit cultivation south of the fairgrounds.”
Gomez went on to talk about development agreements between dispensaries and the city. He said they are working on a temporary agreement that would “sunset” once a voter-approved tax was in place.
During public comment, Michael Corral, co-founder of the first medical marijuana collective in the United States — WAMM (Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana) — said, “My focus in medical marijuana is patient access … I understand that municipalities are looking at this because a lot of municipalities now need revenue but remember this is for patients and I urge you please be careful with your taxation system because this all falls back on patients may of which do not have a lot of money.”
Resident Cara Vonk said, “I support medical and adult use, so I hope we can have some kind of dispensary here. I think I mentioned before, I do have a medical marijuana card. My mom, who’s 97, has a lot of pain so that’s how I got involved.”
Resident Kristi Sadler said she has a 27-year-old severely autistic son who has seen the positive effects of marijuana. “Off of cannabinoids he is trying to cannibalize himself and scratch his eyes out. The only reason he is still in our home is because of marijuana and I am tired of having to drive almost two hours to San Francisco to get a decent recommendation for him every year or to have to go to San Jose or Santa Cruz to get his spray and coconut oil. We need something here in this county for people like me,” she said.
Resident Jackie Morris said she was torn on the issue but was interested in the medicinal aspects of marijuana. “As a health care provider, I’m sick of big pharma. I’m sick of big pharma corrupting our current state of affairs. I feel like there’s this big rush to profit on this when really it’s the medicinal part that I’m interested in and how do we do that relevantly in our town, in our county,” she said.
Rachel Ponce said she felt she was in the opposing minority and said she would like the council to take the time to think about their decisions. “We’re a small community, not very sophisticated and I really hope that you will take your time to really think about this,” she said. “I hope that you will not become blinded by the potential so-called financial gain that the city might have. Some people object to San Juan having a franchise or big box, so why is it OK to have this?”
At the end of the meeting, council members made their final comments.
Councilman Jim West said that while he was in support of marijuana legislation, he is wary of making a decision to soon. “My concern is that I don’t want to do anything in the heat of the moment or in an effort to solve our incredible financial problems that is going to cause unintended consequences and that scares the hell out of me — unintended consequences. We can’t even enforce parking in this town; how in heck are we going to enforce a major thing like that? I’m perfectly happy to wait until we watch what other towns have done and maybe we’ll miss the boat on the initial kickoff, but my job here is to protect the financial and cultural well-being of San Juan Bautista.”
DeVries said, “I entered into this discussion undecided and I’m still undecided. There’s a lot of different issues at play. I think one thing that is pervasive in my thoughts is that come January 2018, the whole landscape is going to change again and we’re in the middle of June now, even if we did say ‘Let’s not wait. Let’s get going on something.’ Then that something wouldn’t be done for months and then we’d have three months left till January and although the ordinance might be easily amended or modified or something it seems like you’d have to craft something now.”
Councilman Tony Boch said, “I do not approve of a dispensary in San Juan Bautista, period. Medical, recreational, whatever you want to call it, we don’t need it. Somebody said 200 people a day. You’re trying to tell me that a population about 1,900 people, 10 percent of them are going to be in there buying dope and I’m sorry that’s what I call it. Secondly, we have to have a cannabis czar, you have to have law enforcement, you have to have fire protection, all these things which San Juan does not have and we do not have the money to front it because it’s $150,000 a year for one deputy part-time and that’s just the sheriff’s department. You’re going to hire somebody to come here to city hall to make sure they are meeting all the regulations. Cultivation I can see and manufacturing I can. I’m sorry. I can not see looking at this map where you can possibly put a location that would not affect somebody,” he continued.
Councilman John Freeman said, “I’m just trying to take it all in and understand and I don’t want to say no to everything and anything. I’d like to understand things more. I think we have a lot of opportunity. I’d like to see us investigating. I’m not saying we’re going to open a dispensary tomorrow, six months from now.”
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