News

By Sallie James

    Florida voters last month legalized a constitutional amendment that made using marijuana legal for certain medical reasons, but Boca Raton residents who need marijuana for medical use won’t find any dispensaries here.
    In November, for the second time in two years, the City Council approved a yearlong moratorium on the operation of medical marijuana treatment centers and dispensing organizations. Council members unanimously agreed they needed time to address land development regulations that will address this issue.
    Boca Raton has historically prohibited marijuana’s cultivation and use.
    “We are not prohibiting the delivery of [medical] marijuana to residents of our city,” explained City Council member Robert Weinroth. “They could still have it dispensed from an outside dispensary and they would still have the use of medical marijuana if it was required.”
    A previous moratorium on operating medical marijuana treatment centers ended when the same measure was presented and failed on the 2014 ballot, but a city moratorium on dispensing and cultivation facilities remained in effect until Nov. 10. Weinroth said the city is simply buying time to address a possible land use it had never before considered and one that would have previously been considered illegal.
    No one from the public spoke for or against the issue.
    The moratorium gives Boca Raton time to address possible new land development regulations.  
    Amendment 2, which voters approved on Nov. 8, allows doctors to prescribe marijuana to anyone with cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, hepatitis C, Lou Gehrig’s disease, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease or other conditions for which they think the use of medical marijuana “would likely outweigh the potential health risks for the patient.”
    Since 2014, the Florida Legislature has revised the definition of “dispensing organization” to include the transportation of cannabis and to include the use of “medical cannabis” for eligible patients with terminal conditions.
    Deputy Mayor Mike Mullaugh wondered why the city’s Planning and Zoning Board had only approved the measure with a 4-1 vote instead of a unanimous vote.
    A city staff member told Mullaugh that Planning and Zoning Board member Arnold Seville voted against extending the moratorium because he wondered what staff had done since the last extension and also noted that the city did not try to regulate traditional pharmacies such as CVS, which sell potent drugs.