Ashland City Council passes legislation banning cannabis operators within city limits

About two months after Ohio voters approved State Issue 2, Ashland City Council voted unanimously to prohibit adult use cannabis operators from setting up in the city corporate limits.

Mayor Matt Miller pointed before the vote on Jan. 2 that council previously passed legislation that would forbid the sale of medical marijuana in the city.

"In other words, we didn't want any dispensaries within our corporate limits," Miller said. "Now, that Issue 2 has passed and now that the approval has been given for adults to use recreational marijuana, this legislation would once again reaffirm that we will not allow the commercial growth or dispensing or those dispensaries within the city of Ashland."

Miller said the new ordinance does not mean an individual cannot smoke marijuana in Ashland if they are at an appropriate age, nor does it mean an individual cannot grow marijuana.

"I believe it's up to six plants per individual and maybe 12 per household of two or more adults," Miller said. "All of that is still permitted. This is simply saying that we will not allow the commercial growth, cultivation and dispensing of recreational marijuana within the city limits of Ashland."

Miller added smoking marijuana on city-owned property is prohibited as well.

"So in other words you cannot smoke it at a picnic pavilion or at the playground or at the golf course or any of our publicly-owned properties in the City of Ashland," he said.

According to the ordinance, which passed as an emergency measure, council members agree prohibiting adult use cannabis operators in the city is necessary in order to protect the health, safety, welfare, comfort and peace of the citizens.

The legislation further states the city may not approve any kind of permits or variances in regard to cannabis operations.

Violations of the new ordinance could result in a first-degree misdemeanor charge, according to the ordinance.

Ohio cities that banned cannabis operators in Northeast Ohio include Lakewood and North Olmsted in Cuyahoga County and Brunswick in Medina County.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland council bans adult-use marijuana businesses inside city limits