The majority of the Morgan Hill City Council still isn’t ready to make a decision on whether to legalize marijuana sales, commercial cultivation, deliveries and other activities in the city limits, as authorized by California Proposition 64.
And the two voting councilmembers—Mayor Steve Tate and Councilman Rene Spring—who are ready to vote on a long-term local policy couldn’t be more opposed in their views of how much commercial and recreational marijuana activity the city should allow.
Tate said at the Jan. 17 council meeting he prefers the city’s current “moratorium” on commercial marijuana sales and related activities in Morgan Hill. He cited public safety as his primary concern, shortly after Police Chief David Swing gave the council a presentation that listed impaired driving, youth access and other crime concerns the police department is likely to deal with as marijuana availability increases in the area.
“I am not going to vote for anything that will make this community less safe,” Tate said.
Spring, on the other hand—enticed by the possibility of up to $1.6 million in new annual revenue from potential local marijuana sales taxes—noted that marijuana is “already here” and the city should take advantage of Prop 64’s new leniency.
“The world is changing. This is a great opportunity to jump on the wagon and do something we as a society and community can benefit (from),” Spring said at the Jan. 17 meeting. “Yes, we can tax it if voters approve. I’d be OK if that money goes into prevention and more (police) positions. This might give us access to state grants (which) could be used for education.”
City officials have been considering what to do about marijuana under Prop 64 since the state’s voters approved the law, which legalizes recreational marijuana use (for those age 21 and up) and commercial sales, in November 2016. Statewide, Prop 64 passed with 57 percent of the vote. About 58 percent of Morgan Hill’s voters voted “yes” to Prop 64.
Prop 64 also allows individual cities and counties to decide whether or not to allow commercial marijuana activity, and to what extent. Swing told the council their options are fourfold:
• Allow sales, testing, commercial cultivation, delivery and/or production;
• Allow testing, commercial cultivation, delivery and/or production;
• Registration program for personal cultivators (Prop 64 allows all adult residents to grow up to six marijuana plants for personal use, on private property);
• The city’s current marijuana policy, which prohibits the sale, cultivation and transport of marijuana for recreational, medical or other uses. In July 2017, the council updated its ordinance to remove references to “medical marijuana” in response to the approval of Prop 64, and clarifies that existing local restrictions apply to both medical and recreational cannabis sales, cultivation and distribution.
None of the options would prohibit adults from using marijuana in private, as Prop 64 allows.
A registration program for personal cultivation, however, would require any Morgan Hill resident who is growing marijuana for personal use to register their plantings with the police department, Swing explained last week. He said such a registry would be helpful to police and EMS who arrive at the scene of a residential emergency, so those responders will know if there are marijuana plants growing on site.
Failure to register one’s plants could be a misdemeanor, infraction or no penalty, depending on the council’s preference, according to City Attorney Don Larkin.
While the nearby City of Fremont has enacted such a registry, the courts have not had a chance to test the idea. Larkin said Prop 64 allows “reasonable regulation” of marijuana cultivation, and he expects the state and district courts “will be weighing in” on exactly what is reasonable.
Pros and cons
But for the time being, the city will leave the current policy unchanged, and will not implement a cultivation registry or allow any commercial marijuana activity in Morgan Hill. At the Jan. 17 meeting, the council directed police and city staff to conduct more research on the different options.
This includes commissioning a scientific survey to determine more details of the public’s support for commercial and retail marijuana business, along with an associated tax or fee program, among Morgan Hill’s voters. Swing said such a survey would cost about $27,000, or more depending on the length of the survey.
“We need to know what voters want before we put it on the ballot,” Councilman Rich Constantine said, referring to any marijuana program that would impose a new local tax on consumers and businesses.
Councilman Larry Carr added he would like to see more details on “how strictly” the city can regulate marijuana businesses—for example, the quantities or strength of pot that could be sold by a licensed local dispensary.
Swing’s presentation to the council included information on other states’ experiences with recreational marijuana—such as Colorado—and how legalization has impacted health and public services. He noted that if Morgan Hill begins to allow retail sales, the community would become the “sole access point for cannabis in South County,” as the City of Gilroy and Santa Clara County governments also currently prohibit sales.
A key concern among law enforcement officials is the potential increase in drivers who are impaired by marijuana, Swing said. “The effects of marijuana are compounded when combined with alcohol,” he noted. Driving under the influence of marijuana is a state vehicle code violation.
Furthermore, preventing youth access to marijuana products will be a challenge under Prop 64, noted Swing. He presented information to the council that indicates that in Colorado, areas with fewer marijuana dispensaries show a lower rate of youth cannabis use.
And there are fears associated with the “all-cash” nature of the marijuana business, which could make cannabis storefronts and delivery people targets for robbery, Swing said.
The benefits of allowing the gamut of commercial marijuana activities include more revenue for city services—between $675,000 and $1.6 million annually—as well as more jobs, Swing said.
Cities that allow retail marijuana sales under Prop 64 will also be eligible for certain state grants, though Swing said the details of such funds and what they could be appropriated for are not yet available.
