News

By Willie Howard

    Lantana officials want to restrict marijuana dispensaries to industrial sections of the 3-square-mile town if Florida voters on Nov. 4 approve the constitutional amendment that would allow marijuana use for medical purposes.
    On Oct. 27, the Town Council directed the town manager and attorney to draft an ordinance that would limit marijuana sales to areas zoned industrial and bring it back to the council for a vote on first reading by Dec. 31.
    The zoning approach was one of several options Town Attorney Max Lohman suggested for the town to begin the process of regulating medical marijuana sales.
    Lohman said regulations made before marijuana sellers set up shop would be grandfathered in, making them more difficult to challenge.
    Mayor David Stewart said the town should create restrictive regulations on marijuana sales, noting that they could be loosened later if necessary.
    “I’d like to see our regulation so tight that it’s not allowed in our town,” Stewart said.
    Council members discussed whether to impose a one-year ban on sales of marijuana in the town — a move taken by city officials in Boynton Beach and Boca Raton to give those municipalities time to draft regulations governing marijuana sales and to find out what regulations the state will impose if Amendment 2 is approved by voters.
    But councilmen Tom Deringer and Philip Aridas favored zoning restrictions instead of a ban.
    “This is a compassionate thing and a medical thing,” Aridas said, referring to the possibility of marijuana sales for medical purposes.
    Vice Mayor Lynn Moorhouse said he wants to ensure that zoning restrictions don’t forbid drug stores in the town from selling marijuana if voters approve the medical marijuana amendment.
    “I wouldn’t want to see it sold in head shops,” Moorhouse said.
    Ryan Padgett, assistant general counsel for the Florida League of Cities, said about 20 of the state’s cities and towns have adopted either moratoriums on the sale of marijuana or zoning restrictions in preparation for the possibility that voters will approve Amendment 2 on Nov. 4.  
    In other action, the council authorized the town’s Police Department to use $2,539 in forfeiture money to cover legal fees associated with seizing two cars, a 2004 Nissan Xterra and a 2000 Saturn.
    Both vehicles were used in the commission of a felony. Chief Sean Scheller said the department is training staff members to handle the legal aspects of seizures in the future to reduce the cost of taking property used in the commission of crimes.