Supervisors in Ventura County received orders on Tuesday to do whatever necessary to ban any businesses cultivating or selling cannabis for recreational purposes. However, at the same time, lawmakers tasked them with analyzing the economic potential of growing hemp instead.
Supervisors John Zaragoza and Linda Parks were outspoken about calling for a ban in unincorporated territory before January, when the state starts issuing commercial licenses for pot businesses. Proposition 64, which voters approved in November last year, legalizes the recreational use of cannabis for anyone 21-years old and over. It also requires the state to issue these licenses.
January 1 is the deadline for the state to start issuing licenses and for jurisdictions that do not want pot businesses to have ordinances in place banning them. According to Chris Stephens, county Resource Management Director, who said on Friday that if counties do not have laws preventing cultivation and sales by then, the state will no longer require their permission to issue licenses. Carpinteria Marijuana Delivery
Supervisors oversee all unincorporated territory beyond the 10 local cities. This includes open spaces, farmlands, and even small communities, such as Oak Park, Oak View, and Somis. For Zaragoza, this step is something of a placeholder. He said, “Come Jan. 1, we are going to be at the mercy of the state if we do not act on marijuana. We are not banning it per se. We just want time to look at it, to regulate it.”
Medical cannabis companies are permissible under state law, but they have yet to gain any momentum anywhere in the county. Just a few months back, supervisors delayed over a measure to regulate medical dispensaries, leaving employees without direction on what to do next. Back then, Parks had concerns about opposition within the community and the size of cannabusinesses. King City Marijuana Delivery
On Thursday, Parks explained that having a law, called an ordinance, would preserve and retain the right of communities to have their say on recreational business operations. “I know that some communities are accepting of it and some are not,” she noted. “It gives local jurisdictions a say instead of having the state make the determination.”
However, Stephens said that time is of the essence, as it can take several months to draft ordinances and approve them. The two supervisors want the board to give official permission for lawmakers to prepare an ordinance that would ban operations by distributors and retailers, as well as growers and manufacturers of any recreational cannabis products. Gonzales Marijuana Delivery
They also wish to study the industrial production of hemp, which the initiative also legalized. Hemp is a durable commodity used to make construction materials, paper, and even clothes, but it contains no THC, which is the psychoactive compound in marijuana. Parks said that local cultivators showed significant interest in growing hemp, and clothes producers are already looking for local sources:
“A lot of business owners would love to have a legal source instead of having it shipped from China.”
