Decatur council approves medical marijuana dispensaries

Dec. 7—Medical marijuana dispensaries are legal in Decatur following the City Council's approval Tuesday night, but the state now has to decide whether the city will be home to one of the 37 dispensaries that will be licensed in Alabama.

The council voted 4-1 to approve the ordinance legalizing medical marijuana sales ahead of the Dec. 30 deadline by which companies wanting to open a dispensary must identify a location in their application to the state.

Decatur is the 37th city to legalize dispensaries so far, according to data from the state Medical Cannabis Commission on Tuesday. It joins Athens and Priceville, which both approved medical marijuana dispensaries last week. Hartselle Mayor Randy Garrison said Tuesday that the issue "hasn't been brought up" for his City Council to consider.

Other north Alabama cities to approve the dispensaries include Huntsville, Florence, Russellville, Owens Cross Roads and Scottsboro. Six counties in the state have also approved dispensaries.

Councilman Hunter Pepper said he has mixed feelings about the issue but his research "showed there are really big benefits to medical marijuana." He said he also got a large public response on social media when he asked for opinions on the issue.

"They really want it," Pepper said. "I feel this is something that could benefit the community."

Pepper said he wants Decatur to get dispensaries before neighboring cities do. The city would benefit from the business license and sales tax revenues produced by a dispensary.

Councilman Carlton McMasters said he supports the ordinance because his research shows that cancer patients and people with epilepsy could benefit from medical marijuana.

Other qualifying conditions under state law include Crohn's Disease; depression; HIV/AIDS-related nausea or weight loss; panic disorder; Parkinson's Disease; persistent nausea; post-traumatic stress disorder; sickle cell anemia; spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury; Tourette's Syndrome; a terminal illness; or conditions causing chronic or intractable pain.

"If it's able to help people, then I don't know why I wouldn't support it," McMasters said.

Decatur Council President Jacob Ladner said he had a couple of reasons for casting the lone vote against the ordinance that also defines where a dispensary can be located in the city.

"First, I don't think it is even constitutional because this is a federally banned substance," Ladner said.

Ladner said he thinks there's a parallel to medical marijuana and opioids because there was also not much data available when opioids became legal "and now there's a crisis. ... In the research I've done, there's not much longevity in studies, and the belief that it helps with chronic pain relief is dubious."

Ladner said he doesn't want medical marijuana dispensaries in his community "because they look like vape shops in states where they are already legal."

Councilman Billy Jackson said he voted for the ordinance despite feeling it is overly restrictive on the location of dispensaries.

The City Council revised the ordinance proposed by City Attorney Herman Marks at a Nov. 28 called meeting.

The revisions were on where a dispensary can be located. The council removed the buffer required between a dispensary and an R-4 (multi-family) zoning district. It also reduced the buffer from 1,000 to 500 feet from any other residential district or from another dispensary. A dispensary cannot locate within any residential district.

The amendment created about 540 parcels throughout the city where a cannabis dispensary could locate, city officials said, as opposed to 200 parcels under the initial version of the ordinance.

Joey Robertson, president and partner of Wagon Trail Med-Serv, a hemp farm in Hanceville, said recently he is actively seeking a location to set up business in five counties and municipalities, including Decatur.

Robertson said he has identified two locations off Beltline Road Southwest as possible spots for a medical marijuana dispensary. He will be required to submit his location choice to the City Council for approval before he submits his request to the state Medical Cannabis Commission. According to the commission, 239 businesses requested applications for dispensary licenses by the Oct. 17 deadline.

Robertson's company is also seeking an integrated license, which would allow his Hanceville facility to cultivate cannabis, make its own product and dispense the product in its own dispensaries.

Companies applying for a dispensary license will have to secure the property through purchase, lease or a letter of intent from the property owner by the end of the year and hold it for at least seven months before the state makes its final decision June 12. Robertson said the license fee is $50,000 per year.

Alabama was the 37th state to approve medical marijuana when it adopted the law last year, although marijuana — whether recreational or medicinal — remains illegal under federal law. It is a Schedule 1 drug — like LSD or heroin — but federal enforcement has eroded since about 2013, clearing the way for states to legalize marijuana possession and sale.

The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission's website said medical cannabis products that can be produced and recommended to patients include tablets, capsules, tinctures, gelatinous cubes, gels, oils or creams for topical use, suppositories, transdermal patches, nebulizers, or liquids or oils for use in an inhaler.

Raw plant materials, products administered by smoking or vaping, or food products such as cookies or candies will not be allowed.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.