The Tallahassee City Commission voted Wednesday night to advance a six-month moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries.
Amendment Two has rattled policymakers across the state. Even before it's passage towns, cities and counties advanced moratoriums to halt new medical marijuana development. Now Tallahassee is preparing to join the group.
City Commissioner Gil Ziffer says the six-month pause will “give us some time to figure out what’s going to happen, get some guidance from the Legislature—they don’t even come back until March."
The vote in favor of the moratorium was unanimous, but Mayor Andrew Gillum and Commissioner Curtis Richardson voiced concern about allowing state lawmakers to dictate city policy.
“I’m going to go with the moratorium language tonight, but I will also admit that I am really not a huge fan of letting the Legislature tell local governments what is in our interest and our priorities,” Gillum says.
With the moratorium's introduction, the city will stop taking applications for new dispensary development. But the ordinance won't officially take effect until the Commission holds two public hearings and makes its final vote. Tallahassee is home to one of the state’s four brick and mortar dispensaries, with two competing organizations in the midst of permitting.
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