OLDSMAR – Like many communities on the Suncoast and around the Sunshine State, Oldsmar officials were forced to grapple with whether to allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in the city following the passage of Amendment 2 last November.
In January, City Council enacted a temporary moratorium on such establishments while local and state officials sorted out the legal technicalities associated with the voter-approved amendment.
During a public workshop on the topic in late October, the council members learned the details of legislation state lawmakers passed in July, limiting them to one of three options regarding dispensaries: do nothing; treat them as pharmacies; or ban them outright.
The decision was upheld during a pair of subsequent public hearings.
During the second and final reading, on Nov. 20, Mayor Doug Bevis addressed the social media backlash the ban received.
“I just want to say this, as typical I get blasted sometimes on Facebook for some of the things that happen and I definitely defended the city’s stance on this,” Bevis said. “Some of the comments were, ‘you need to be more progressive, you need to think of the people that need them’ and I quickly responded that we can undo this, but we can’t enact it. If we don’t pass something now, we can’t stick the genie back in the bottle. So, this does allow us to control it right now until we can either change our pharmaceutical regulations or ordinances or do something different.”
Bevis added he felt the ban “was a good thing for the city of Oldsmar,” a view other council members supported.
“The other thing of course was the proximity of existing facilities,” Councilman Eric Seidel said, referring to four facilities in Clearwater and St. Petersburg and another one just over the county line in Hillsborough.
An “extremely high percentage” of Oldsmar voters voted in favor of Amendment 2, Seidel noted, so “to not pay attention to that would be foolish.”
Afterwards, Bevis elaborated on the decision.
“I think there’s adequate accessibility to the ones in Tampa and Clearwater, and I don’t know that the demand is there from a patient standpoint in Oldsmar,” he said, adding, “If we try to regulate pharmacies, that’s a big task, so I’d rather do it this way.”
Not approving dispensaries in the city doesn’t mean local officials are against medical marijuana use, Bevis said.
“I’m all in favor of it for people who need it,” he said. “I just think we should do it at our own pace.”
credit:suncoastnews.com
