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Cannabis Ordinance Offers Clean Slate for Regulation in Pasadena and LA County
News Jun 22, 2017
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The ban that Supervisor Barger passed through the Board covers all of the unincorporated areas of the entire county. Since Pasadena has outlawed medical marijuana dispensaries since 2005, the commercial distribution, consumption and cultivation are illegal in all parts of Pasadena. – Courtesy photo
By Sadie Gribbon
Earlier this month the District 5 Supervisor, who oversees Pasadena, Kathryn Barger, proposed and passed a ban on commercial cannabis through the Board, an ordinance that will stand until there is a regulatory framework for the distribution, consumption and cultivation of cannabis in LA County.
This ban made the commercial cultivation, manufacturing, processing, testing and retail sale of medical and non-medical marijuana illegal in all of unincorporated LA County.
For the city of Pasadena, this ordinance makes cannabis distribution completely illegal. Since 2005, Pasadena has banned medical marijuana dispensaries. By making the commercial sale of cannabis temporarily illegal on top of the precedent ordinances in Pasadena, marijuana cannot be sold anywhere in the city. This stands at least until January 2018, when Prop 64 goes into full effect.
Commercial operation is banned but medical marijuana dispensaries in the county are not. The cannabis ban is geared toward the actual commercial businesses that do not have the proper framework laid out by LA County.
This does not include legal medical marijuana dispensaries, but the line between commercial sale and the legal sale of medical marijuana can seem blurred.
The county is to have a regulatory framework for the commercial sale of marijuana by January 2018. The ban gives the committee working behind the framework a chance to start city ordinances with a “clean slate,” according to Tony Bell, Assistant Chief Deputy to Supervisor Barger.
“You have a lot of moving pieces with commercial sale (of marijuana),” Planning and Public Works Manager under Supervisor Barger, Chris Perry, said.
Earlier this year, Pasadena City Council passed an ordinance that allowed for water and electricity to be shut off in illegal dispensaries in the city which have been cited a minimum of four times.
While Proposition 64, which passed last fall, legalized marijuana in the state there are still acts in place to give cities their own say.
“This Prop (Proposition 64) seemed pretty cut and dry but there is a great deal of process and production,” Bell said. “There are legal issues; there are environmental issues when it comes to water and electricity. The impact on the environment is substantial.”
A perspective which is often overlooked by consumers is how marijuana is cultivated.
“Most (cultivators) are indoor, hydroponic producers,” Bell said. Meaning they need to use a lot of electricity for their light sources and water to help the plants grow.
The ban that Supervisor Barger passed through the Board covers all of the unincorporated areas of the entire county. Since Pasadena has outlawed medical marijuana dispensaries since 2005, the commercial distribution, consumption and cultivation are illegal in all parts of Pasadena, including the unincorporated areas where many illegal dispensaries and commercial businesses try to push their way in.
“We need to put personal regulations on consumption,” Perry said, “when prop 64 is set to go into effect is when the county and board are interested in meeting the needs of individuals.”
The regulatory framework is projected to be complete by January in order to grant Pasadena, as well as LA County residents, their right to use recreational cannabis.
