Temporary hold on medical marijuana sale approved

 

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

 

If the medical marijuana state referendum passes on Tuesday, Nov. 4, Key West city officials have taken steps to insure pot dispensaries won’t suddenly be popping up all over town.

Both the city manager’s office and the planning board have approved a zoning in progress halt (ZIP) that would temporarily freeze approval of all applications to open a stand-alone medical marijuana dispensary. The ZIP would not apply to licensed pharmacists and licensed medical centers.

The purpose of the licensing freeze would be to give city officials 180 days to develop and pass new land use ordinances regulating where marijuana could be dispensed to patients with a prescription from their doctors. Medical marijuana has been found effective in the treatment of pain management and loss of appetite, among other symptoms associated with various illnesses.

City Planner Don Craig said that his department needs time to “carefully craft” an ordinance that would limit the location of medical marijuana treatment centers.

“Some of those locations, due to the fact we are a 2.5 by 4.5 [mile] island, may be adjacent to land uses that create a situation… i.e. schools and clusters of medical marijuana shops,” Craig told planning board members, adding that the ZIP “will give us an opportunity to craft the regulations, bring them back to you, then on to the City Commission after the required public hearings to adopt those regulations, whatever they may be.”

A memo from Craig’s staff said any new ordinance, if the state referendum passes on Nov. 4, should define what a medical marijuana center is, limit dispensaries to certain zoning districts, keep the dispensaries at least 1,000 feet away from schools and churches, and establish a minimum distance between each dispensary location. But at least one aspect of the proposed regulations drew a protest from Colette Alea-Barroso, a pharmacist at the family-owned Dennis Pharmacy, 1111 12th St. She pointed out that her pharmacy is less than 1,000 feet away from Poinciana Elementary School.

“I’m just looking to take care of my patients, nothing else,” she told the planning board.

That concern resonated with Planning Board member Michael Browning, who worried that licensed pharmacies, doctors and urgent care medical facilities might not be allowed to sell what would be a legal medical treatment.

“I understand the city’s need to regulate this but denying people access to an effective means seems inappropriate to me. The only way I could go for this is if we crafted language where licensed pharmacies or physicians would be allowed to dispense this,” Browning said.

City Planner Craig said the proposed restriction keeping pot dispensaries at least 1,000 feet away from schools and churches was only an initial suggestion.

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