ALAMEDA — Just one cannabis nursery and two medicinal dispensaries will be allowed in the city under rules adopted by the Alameda City Council early Wednesday morning.
The new ordinance also bans people from smoking marijuana in public places and in multi-family housing — mirroring the city’s regulations already in place for tobacco — but allows on-site use at the dispensaries.
The nursery and dispensaries cannot be located within 1,000 feet of a school or recreational center.
The ordinance also limits businesses that manufacture cannabis to four and the number of testing labs to two.
The council’s adoption came about 2:15 a.m. after it heard from approximately 20 public speakers, some of whom asked for the rules to be loosened to allow people to set up businesses that would only deliver marijuana to customers.
They said it would provide a way for entrepreneurs and those without much financial backing to break into the industry, and that it would help keep the industry local.
The council kept the prohibition, however.
Some council members called the new rules a “go-slow approach” toward regulating pot in town.
Mayor Trish Spencer wanted more nurseries, medical dispensaries and manufacturing companies, saying without them the ordinance favored big business.
“That is not small business,” Spencer said about having just one nursery. “That is a monopoly.”
But she failed to get any support from council members.
The council, however, tweaked the ordinance so that its requirement for businesses to have a “labor peace agreement” — which can help clear the way for union to come in — be only required for a pot business with at least 10 employees, instead of the initially proposed two.
Michael McDonough, president of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce, said the requirement would set a precedent that could undermine other types of small businesses.
But Vice Mayor Malia Vella said having the requirement was necessary because of the nature of the cannabis industry.
“This is not like any other industry,” Vella said. “This is a cash-only, semi-legal industry.”
It was a way to protect workers, she said.
Councilwoman Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft and Councilman Frank Matarrese cast votes against the ordinance, which was adopted after contentious debate over its wording and on its limits as the meeting stretched from Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning.
Matarrese said he was concerned that the city was drafting a law for commerce for a substance that remains illegal under federal law, especially since the state of California has not adopted regulations for cannabis.
“We don’t have the benefit of that yet,” he said.
Matarrese was also worried with burdening city officials with too much work if the ordinance was too broad in what it allowed, noting that they are also responsible for other city programs.
“I have concrete concerns that we are going to be overrun with an inordinate amount of work,” he said.
But Spencer said broader regulations were needed because many people use pot and the industry can be stigmatized.
“I think it’s critical we do something to reduce the black market,” she said.
Medical marijuana, dispensed through licensed businesses and regulated through a doctor’s prescription, has been legal for two decades. In November 2016, California voters approved Proposition 64, which allowed for sales of recreational pot through dispensaries as well.
The goal of the council’s action early Wednesday was to have an ordinance in place before Jan.1, when the recreational use of marijuana will become legal in the state.
credit:eastbaytimes.com