Council work session to focus on pot

Sean C. Morgan

The Sweet Home City Council will consider how it wants to regulate marijuana during a work session scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 2, in the Jim Riggs Community Center, 880 18th Ave.

The meeting is a work session and will not include a time for public comments. The council hosted a public meeting on May 6. Twenty members of the public commented, 16 in favor of legal marijuana, with four speaking against recreational sale and use of marijuana.

Theresa Brown of Sweet Home is expected to submit a proposal for regulation to the council for its consideration during the work session.

Mayor Jim Gourley said that while public comments will not be taken during the meeting, the council would accept the proposal.

“I think all ideas should be looked at,” Gourley said.

At issue is the legalization of recreational marijuana use on July 1 based on the passage of Measure 91 in November. Opponents of recreational marijuana note that the use of marijuana is still outlawed by the federal government.

Councilor Jeff Goodwin has introduced several proposals to ban some or all use and sale of marijuana in Sweet Home, kicking off discussion among council members and drawing protest from supporters of legal recreational marijuana. During and after the public meeting on May 6, several councilors said that while they didn’t support legal recreational use of marijuana, they did not plan to pursue a ban on it.

“What I expect is for us to discuss what should be done in the best interest of Sweet Home legally under the measure,” Gourley said. He believes that will primarily revolve around regulating the time, manner and place for the sale and use of marijuana.

“The council is considering several options that have been proposed,” said Councilor Goodwin. “Prohibit illegal businesses from operating in the city; taxing marijuana sales; requiring registration of marijuana plants and sales within the city; regulating the time, manner, and place that marijuana can be sold; giving the voters the option to prohibit marijuana at the next election.

“The purpose of the meeting is to discuss what, if any, of these options we should pursue further.”

Brown, who she said does not use marijuana, has been taking feedback and will continue to until she submits proposed regulations to the council.

“I love Sweet Home,” Brown said. “The councilmen, I think, are good-intentioned human beings. I don’t think any of them have much experience with marijuana.”

That’s where input from folks like her can help the council.

“There’s been so much persecution and bad information about pot,” Brown said. She has seen many people affected by it. They use marijuana, and although they function well in the Sweet Home community, they don’t admit it because of the ill will.

According to a May 22 draft of her proposal, marijuana retailers should be treated the same as alcohol-serving establishments, even though there is less risk to the community due to the additional restrictions provided by Measure 91 and Oregon Liquor Control Commission administrative rules that will allow no public consumption.

That means marijuana retailers, producers, processors and wholesalers would be treated the same as alcohol in the OLCC’s approval process; fee, permit and non-compliance fine amounts; taxes; sign restrictions; zoning and land use; and number of permits.

Any ordinances defined in Sweet Home to control marijuana would apply to alcohol sales, Brown said, and any ordinances defined in Sweet Home to control alcohol would apply to marijuana sales.

Her proposal said that the restrictions would reduce the additional resource requirements for city code and law enforcement activities by using consistent existing rules and procedures.

It would ensure that Sweet Home would not be ostracized in Oregon due to more restrictive ordinances, resulting in less tourism and economic growth, she said.

It would protect children by ensuring containment of sales and validation of age requirements to adults 21 and older as well as ensuring the same oversight as alcohol.

It would provide marijuana competitive market opportunities to help reduce the need for black market use for the product, which would bring more criminal elements to the community.

Brown has taken input from about 60 people, she said, via email, in person, by phone and on Facebook.

“Everybody feels like the problem is they’re not treating marijuana like alcohol,” Brown said. “They’re treating it like heroin or meth. Why not treat it like alcohol?”

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