Panama City Beach, Fla. – Amendment 2, commonly known as the Medical Marijuana amendment, gained approval from voters in the November general election. Now, Florida has decisions to make about making that law a reality. One Bay County city isn’t waiting for direction from the state before taking action.
The Panama City Beach City Council held a workshop Thursday to talk about what’s next for the city when it comes to regulating medical marijuana. Nothing was voted on at Thursday’s meeting, it was merely a discussion to get council members to start thinking.
The city is establishing a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana shops that will be presented at next week’s City Council meeting. During the moratorium, the city staff is being directed to study medical marijuana activities and develop and recommend locations for dispensaries.
To help understand such activities, a representative from Clark Partington Law Firm attended Thursday’s workshop
"I have a couple of newspaper articles regarding the implementation process, which I think everybody is curious about, as well as some pictures of what dispensaries look like in particular the green solutions dispensaries," Clark Bell of Clark Partington Law Firm said.
Panama City Beach Mayor Mike Thomas expressed concerns about the image of the city based on the research he did of dispensaries in other states. Others were concerned about the locations being too close to schools, churches or residential neighborhoods.
However, others argued that if these dispensaries are strictly for medical marijuana purposes, there shouldn’t be regulations on how far someone with an illness needs to go to get it.
City council members discussed the option to work with Bay County on these decisions, and the possibility of hosting a workshop together.
The drafted moratorium will be presented at next Thursday’s Panama City Beach City Council meeting on December 8.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Panama City Beach City Council Has Questions About Medical Marijuana
Author: Staff
Contact: 850-234-7777
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Website: WJHG
