South Portland City Council Rejects Moratorium, Awaits Task Force Rules
POSTED: 12:06 am EST January 12, 2010
UPDATED: 7:52 am EST January 12, 2010
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine -- Cities and towns in
Maine are working on local moratoriums for medical marijuana dispensaries as
the state continues to work on where to put the dispensaries and how to
regulate them.
The state's
Medical
Marijuana Task Force is scheduled to meet again Friday for the fifth and,
they hope, the final time. The panel continues to work on figuring out how to
implement and regulate Maine's expanded medical marijuana law passed by voters
in November.
The South Portland's City Council took up the issue Monday night. Mayor Tom
Coward proposed a six-month moratorium to wait and see how the law will work,
but after some debate, City Council members voted down the proposal.
"I don't have any problem with the intent of the law, but this is
bizarre, inviting problems into our communities," South Portland City
Councilwoman Linda Boudreau said.
"I think if we were to replace the word 'marijuana' with 'pain relief
dispensaries' -- which is exactly what this is -- we wouldn't even be talking
about this," South Portland City Councilman Tom Blake said.
Instead, South Portland will wait for the rules to be established by the task
force and, if necessary, adjust them to reflect South Portland's community.
Some towns, like Brewer, have already established moratoriums, while others,
like Auburn, are considering such a measure.
The task force is deciding on things like how to control and regulate the
nonprofit dispensaries and where they can operate -- issues that affect many
Maine communities.
More than two weeks past the deadline for the task force to report to the
Legislature, several towns and cities are wondering if they should form their
own plan.
"I think we do kind of need to put the breaks on the whole thing to
address the problem as a whole, and we won't know a lot about that until the
state gets done with its several layers of review and rulemaking," Coward
said.
"I also feel that the state needs to do its work. I feel like we're ahead
of the curve and it's not necessary. I certainly will discuss zoning issues
when the time is appropriate," South Portland City Councilwoman Rosemarie
DeAngelis said.
Zoning was pushed far from the City Council's discussion table Monday night as
the state task force is to decide where the dispensaries can operate and how
many can be in an area, among other restrictions.
In November, Gov. John Baldacci ordered the creation of the task force -- made
up of legislators, patient advocates and the attorney general -- after voters
approved a new law to allow licensed dispensaries at nonprofit groups that
will provide medical marijuana to qualified patients.
Maine Patients Coalition.org
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