The six medical marijuana delivery firms that service Lafayette can rest easy: Abundent, Green Garden Delivery, Green Grizzly, Norcal Patients Collective, La Morinda Top Shelf, and Pure Cure Farmacy will not be banned from delivering in the area, unless the City Council opposes the current recommendation by the Planning Commission.
Since 2011, the city has adopted ordinances banning marijuana dispensaries and cultivation in Lafayette. Responding to the California legislature's recent Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, enacted to comprehensively regulate medical marijuana, the city initiated an amendment that would update and expand the existing city ordinance to prohibit cannabis manufacture, delivery and testing laboratories.
At the Dec. 6 Planning Commission meeting, the majority of commissioners supported delivery services. Explaining that medical use of marijuana is legal in California, Commissioner Kathryn Lyddan sided with patients, saying, "Those people that are ill are exactly the people who might use a delivery service."
"It's a merchandising issue," said Commissioner Tom Chastain.
Proposition 215, the California Compassionate Use Act, was passed by voters in 1996 legalizing the medical use of marijuana.
A motion to allow cultivation for personal use along with delivery service died, but a motion to allow delivery of medical marijuana passed. The planning commissioner's recommendation will go to the City Council for a final decision in January.
City Attorney Mala Subramanian suggested in a memorandum that marijuana uses can become a nuisance: "The cultivation, transportation, and distribution of marijuana can create problems relating to public health and safety, crime, water and air quality, and energy consumption."
Her official recommendation is for the City Council to adopt a ban on marijuana transportation, testing laboratories and cultivation.
Since 2011, the city has adopted ordinances banning marijuana dispensaries and cultivation in Lafayette. Responding to the California legislature's recent Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, enacted to comprehensively regulate medical marijuana, the city initiated an amendment that would update and expand the existing city ordinance to prohibit cannabis manufacture, delivery and testing laboratories.
At the Dec. 6 Planning Commission meeting, the majority of commissioners supported delivery services. Explaining that medical use of marijuana is legal in California, Commissioner Kathryn Lyddan sided with patients, saying, "Those people that are ill are exactly the people who might use a delivery service."
"It's a merchandising issue," said Commissioner Tom Chastain.
Proposition 215, the California Compassionate Use Act, was passed by voters in 1996 legalizing the medical use of marijuana.
A motion to allow cultivation for personal use along with delivery service died, but a motion to allow delivery of medical marijuana passed. The planning commissioner's recommendation will go to the City Council for a final decision in January.
City Attorney Mala Subramanian suggested in a memorandum that marijuana uses can become a nuisance: "The cultivation, transportation, and distribution of marijuana can create problems relating to public health and safety, crime, water and air quality, and energy consumption."
Her official recommendation is for the City Council to adopt a ban on marijuana transportation, testing laboratories and cultivation.
Reach the reporter at:
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA