COUNCIL MULLS OPTIONS FOR DISPENSARIES

FLORENCE -- No decisions were made after spending nearly an hour
discussing medical marijuana dispensaries Monday during the workshop
prior to the Florence City Council.

"There are a number of different avenues that the city can take," said
City Attorney Bryan Fredrickson.

Fredrickson said people with certain medical conditions who have a
recommendation from a doctor are entitled to obtain and use marijuana
for medicinal purposes.

"That is not the issue," Fredrickson said. "What is an issue before
the council is when the general assembly took up this matter last
time, they passed a bill that allows local government, including
municipalities to elect out of allowing medical marijuana centers,
which are essentially retail outlets for the sale and purchase of
medical marijuana and paraphernalia, growth operations and also
manufacturing operations."

What the locality cannot do is disallow the use of medical marijuana
for people who have the right in the Constitution.

"The statute provides two different ways for a municipality or a
county to opt out; one is by the vote of the elected officials or city
council," Fredrickson said. "The other is by referral measure from the
council to the local electors, where the local voters in the City of
Florence would decide the question."

If nothing is done, these centers would be allowed to operate, which
leaves the question of what extent Florence would regulate where these
types of operations could operate, under what conditions and what
licensing fees.

"The age-old question is whether or not the city wants to entertain
the notion of not allowing these types of enterprises within the
jurisdiction of the City of Florence," Fredrickson said. "If that
question came back, 'yes, we want to allow them,' the ball would be
thrown back to city council to regulate those enterprises. If it went
to a vote and the voters said 'no, we don't want them,' then it stops
there."

There is a moratorium that expires in June, which would have to be
extended if it goes to the next scheduled election in November 2011.

Resident Kevin Bradley asked what options the council might go to at
that time.

"I think we would probably be looking at one of the two, meaning make
a recommendation to go to election to let the voters decide whether
they want to prohibit or allow or let city council make that
decision," Mayor Pro Tem Ron Hinkle said.

Bradley asked the council to look at the positive rather than just the
negative.

"We are looking at all prospects right now," Hinkle
said.

Business owner Laurie Aves said the business owners prefer the medical
marijuana dispensaries not be allowed on Main Street, near schools,
daycare centers or parks.

Others who attended included Makara and Manfred Bereuter, who were in
favor of allowing medical marijuana dispensaries in Florence.

"The only reason we're talking about putting this on a ballot and
asking the people to vote is because the council as it sits right now,
the majority of the council doesn't want a dispensary in Florence,"
Makara said. "Because if you all wanted a dispensary in Florence,
nobody would be here arguing with you."

Bereuter encouraged the council to take the opportunity to use the
upcoming 10 months for a "yes" vote and allow the dispensaries to open
and operate in the community.

"That would give you a good chance to see how it works for this
community, to see if you have any problems, to serve and extend
compassion to the sick people of our community," he said. "If there
are problems, you'll have a test period to do that. I would certainly
hope you would consider that just because this is a doctor/patient
relationship that the council is interfering with and I'm heavily
bothered with that."