Marijuana Dispensaries On The Way To Monterey
MONTEREY, CALIF. (KION-TV)- The City of Monterey looks to be gaining momentum into adding marijuana dispensaries to the peninsula.
Kimberly Cole of the Community Development Department says this all started during the midterm elections.
“The city council started that momentum back in November, where the voters passed a tax measure regarding cannabis,” Cole said. “So that was sort of the first step. And now we're following up with the ordinance.”
This momentum is something most people like Joshua Macclelland agree to see. Although he doesn’t use marijuana anymore, he saw the benefit it gave to those who really needed it.
“All the times I went in there, there were senior citizens and people of youth that have cancer and ailments that even just THC rubs aren't really necessarily CBD, aren't necessarily going to get you high but are, you know, therapeutic, so to speak,” Macclelland said.
Although most of the council was on board with bringing dispensaries to the peninsula, there were those like Councilmember Ed Smith who don’t see marijuana as a positive in any light.
“Just disagree with the whole premise and it's uncomfortable to continue to be the person of a lone voice that is probably a 4 to 1 vote, but I'm not going to change my mind,” Smith said. “I still think it's wrong.”
People like Macclelland would hope Councilmember Smith would understand the good side of these dispensaries.
“They do need this think on the flip side of the coin, that there's a lot of benefits as far as physical ailments and things of that nature,” Macclelland said.
The original plan was to have three different dispensaries located in the city.
But after a long discussion and extra input from the public city staff will look into adding a fourth dispensary and even looking into cannabis related events held at the Monterey fairground.
Monterey staff will look into having five related cannabis events at the fairground. Further discussion of these plans will be set for a later date.
