SAN RAFAEL (BCN) — The Marin County Board of Supervisors is considering a draft ordinance to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in the unincorporated areas of the county.
A public workshop on the issue is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the board’s meeting in the Civic Center.
There are currently no legally operating dispensaries anywhere in Marin County, but a 2013 Civil Grand Jury recommended the board draft ordinances to allow them in the unincorporated areas.
Supervisors Judy Arnold and Damon Connolly researched regulatory models that permit selling pot from storefronts with a physician’s approval or recommendation in a safe, convenient place for medical marijuana patients.
“What we have discovered is that in the absence of licensed dispensaries, patients have to deal with delivery services or travel out of county to a dispensary,” Arnold said.
“We don’t know anything about these delivery services; they are unlicensed and unregulated. We don’t know the quality of consultation they provide and we don’t know the quality of the product the patients are getting. I think our seriously ill patients deserve better,” Arnold said.
The proposed draft ordinance allows no more than three special licenses within the unincorporated area with a maximum of one license each in the north Highway 101 corridor, south Highway 101 corridor and central/west Marin.
The dispensaries would be restricted to commercially zoned properties that are more than 600 feet from a school or park and that meet strict operation and security standards.
The supervisors will not vote on the issue Tuesday, but might decide later to schedule a first reading and hearing on the ordinance.