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What you'll learn in this post:<\/h2>\n
[Click any of the section titles below to jump there]<\/p>\n
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- Citywide Pot Bans Are Highly Restrictive<\/a><\/li>\n
- The High Cost of Cannabis Restrictions<\/a><\/li>\n
- What If You Live in an Anti-Pot City?<\/a><\/li>\n
- Last Note<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Citywide Pot Bans Are Highly Restrictive<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Almost immediately after California voters approved Proposition 64’s recreational cannabis use, many city councils passed moratoriums on the sale of recreational cannabis.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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One SoCal city with a strict <\/span>anti-pot history<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is Poway<\/strong>. This small, rural town in unincorporated San Diego County recently <\/span>banned all cannabis dispensaries<\/span><\/a> by a unanimous vote, citing safety concerns.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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Like many others, this specific ban prohibits all marijuana storefront dispensaries, collectives, cooperatives, cultivation, delivery, manufacturing, and storage of any type of cannabis. Even worse, outdoor growing is banned.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Luckily, this ordinance does not prevent citizens from using medical cannabis at home.<\/strong>\u00a0So Poway mmj patients will still be able to grow up to six plants per person in their homes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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But other cities aren\u2019t as forgiving. Those that attempt to restrict cannabis production are seeing a backlash, as in the case of the City of Fontana<\/strong><\/a> in San Bernardino County against the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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The ACLU<\/a> filed a suit against Fontana which, \u201cadopted an ordinance designed to make it virtually impossible for Fontana residents to enjoy the rights conferred on them by [Proposition 64].\u201d Fontana enacted these purposefully restricting regulations to keep their residents safe, <\/span>according<\/span> to mayor Acquanetta Warren.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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The city currently bans all cannabis dispensaries<\/a>, making it extremely hard for qualified residents to get the medication they need.\u00a0<\/span>If you want to start growing cannabis in Fontana, you’ll need to apply for a $400 permit<\/strong>. If that wasn’t bad enough, the city also requires growers to pay for a warrantless search of their homes<\/strong> and prohibits people with criminal records from growing<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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Essentially, Fontana became the poster town for prohibitionist-type laws clearly designed to make it hard for people to grow cannabis and get well.<\/span>
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The High Cost of Cannabis Restrictions<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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By denying marijuana businesses from establishing themselves, city council members prevent the people who need it the most from obtaining their medicine in the name of protecting the town.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Not only are local elected officials<\/a>\u00a0making it extremely difficult for medicinal patients to obtain their mmj products, but they\u2019re also sabotaging their local economy\u2019s growth.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Thriving economies in other pot hot spots should’ve at least piqued the interest of elected officials, but financial incentive wasn’t enough to dispel their misguided fear of creating an impractical framework for cannabis business to thrive in their town\u2014with resulting consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Black Market <\/span><\/h3>\n
When storefronts are banned, there\u2019s no competition for black market operations. The cannabis demand is so high that there’ll always be a distributor wherever needed for the right price. Black market dispensaries may provide residents with cannabis, but who knows if their products are even quality, clean, or even real cannabis.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Sickness<\/span><\/h3>\n
Without regulation, mmj products run the risk of being mislabeled or not labeled at all, preventing users from determining an accurate, consistent dosage for their illness. Inaccurate or lack of product info and lab testing also make it easier for first-timers to take too much and swear off cannabis altogether.<\/span>
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\n<\/span><\/p>\nWithout local testing facilities, growing sites and proper regulations<\/a>, mmj patients may ironically resort to risking their health by buying from dispensaries that don\u2019t test their products. When these places aren\u2019t testing for pesticides or mold, the city dumps the burden of quality control on the patients buying from these black market operations.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Home Growing <\/span><\/h3>\n
It\u2019s well-known that inhaling pesticides and mold can cause respiratory damage or worse. Often mmj patients aren\u2019t sure how to identify mold because cannabis education isn\u2019t as mainstream or prevalent as it should be. Banning pot and casting it to the shadows only prevents us from truly understanding it and using it wisely.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Another problem when you restrict mmj users to growing their own weed? They aren’t aren\u2019t naturally adept at growing organic cannabis, nor do they have the resources to do so. Growing indoors requires time, specialized knowledge and equipment that can be quite costly.<\/span><\/p>\n
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Inaccurate & Twisted Information<\/span><\/h3>\n
When city council members like those in Poway cite driving accidents<\/a> and overall crime rises in legal mmj states, they’re willfully cherry-picking points to support their argument.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
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Multiple studies cite that cannabis has negligible effects when it comes to accidents on the road. Yet there’s no significant link between cannabis use in mmj states and increase accidents. The fear of increased accidents and the city going to hell is simply alarmist rhetoric that does more harm than good when protecting elected officials\u2019 constituency.<\/span><\/p>\n
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The demand for cannabis is too high, making it a haven for pot producers, legal and not. This large request for cannabis makes it nearly impossible to enforce without proper regulations.<\/span>
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Law enforcement won\u2019t be able to close shops as quickly as they want; in the time it takes to close one illegal dispensary, another, or the same one, pops up elsewhere. This waste of tax dollars continues in the name of protecting its residents, when in actuality these laws\u00a0do a disservice to residents, not just mmj patients, who’d benefit from legalization.<\/span><\/p>\n
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What If You Live in an Anti-Pot City?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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With all these restrictive laws, you can still easily receive a medical marijuana recommendation from a licensed physician. An online telemedicine service like NuggMD <\/a>makes it very easy to obtain your cannabis rec and\/or card by answering a few simple questions about your health history.<\/span><\/p>\n
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- The High Cost of Cannabis Restrictions<\/a><\/li>\n