What began with a spirited debate, ended quietly without public comment.
The first reading of Ordinance 2018-03, which essentially imposes a complete ban on medical marijuana dispensaries, including mobile medical marijuana dispensaries, within the town limits of Melbourne Beach, was read during Melbourne Beach’s regular town commission meeting on July 18.
It was a different outcome than the commission planned for in 2014, when, in anticipation of an eventual medical marijuana referendum, the members unanimously passed an ordinance permitting marijuana dispensaries in the town, with certain restrictions.
In 2016, a state amendment allowing the use of medical marijuana for specific medical conditions passed with 71 percent of the vote.
Municipalities had the right to ban dispensaries completely in their communities. But if they chose to allow them, they had to regulate them exactly like a pharmacy – with no additional restrictions imposed.
The commission had hoped the state would allow a grandfathering-in of their 2014 regulations, which included rules about parking, seating and loitering, as well as a requirement for a specifically designed safe to discourage robberies.
However, the requirements of Amendment 2 and those set by the Florida Legislature prohibited the town from enacting these regulations without applying them to pharmacies as well. The commission took the issue under advisement, eventually deciding to create an ordinance banning them. A draft of the ordinance was reviewed in a public hearing of the Planning and Zoning Board on July 3, where at least one board member questioned the need for it when there were drugs “much worse” like oxycodone legally sold at pharmacies within the town.
Melbourne Beach Town Attorney Cliff Repperger Jr. addressed the comment citing that the commission felt there was a lack of “performance related controls.”
“When the issue first came to them several months ago they had a pretty spirited debate about whether they would allow or not allow,” Repperger said. “After much debate they came to the decision to ban outright.”
Prior to the meeting, Melbourne Beach Mayor James Simmons sent out an email to his distribution list, explaining the decision.
“We are taking a cautious approach by prohibiting them (at least until we can see the experiences of the municipalities that have allowed them),” Simmons wrote in the email. “If we were to allow them now, we could not go back and prohibit them, but, by prohibiting them now we can always change our laws to allow them in the future. Prohibiting them for now, at least, gives us the most flexibility, which I support.”
In June, Brevard County’s first medical marijuana dispensary, Curaleaf, opened at 1420 Palm Bay Road NE in Palm Bay.
Government officials in Satellite Beach, Rockledge, Titusville and unincorporated Brevard County have also decided to allow the dispensaries in each of their respective municipalities.
According to the Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Uses (OMMU), as of July 2018 there are currently 101,590 Floridians who are qualified patients with an active ID card and 14 approved medical marijuana treatment centers statewide.
Article by: Jennifer Torres, correspondent
