City puts ban on pot retail sales on ballot

JUNCTION CITY — It may now be legal for those 21 and older to smoke marijuana in Oregon, but this Lane County town’s leaders sent a clear message Tuesday night: They don’t want you buying your product here.

A unanimous City Council decided that Junction City voters next year will be asked to vote on a proposal to ban all marijuana facilities, including recreational marijuana outlets and medical marijuana dispensaries, within city limits.

The city is the first in the county to send such an outright ban proposal to voters.

Councilors also approved in another 6-0 vote a second ordinance that forbids medical marijuana dispensaries from selling recreational marijuana. That ordinance, however, is largely moot, inasmuch as no one to date has applied to establish a dispensary in Junction City.

Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill last month that lets medical dispensaries sell up to a quarter-ounce of marijuana to adults 21 and older, following last year’s passage of Measure 91, which legalized recreational pot. An amendment to the law allows limited sales of recreational marijuana starting Oct. 1.

City councils and county boards, however, can opt out of the Oct. 1 start date with a majority vote.

Elected officials also can ban medical and recreational pot shops outright, but only in communities where at least 55 percent of voters opposed Measure 91.

In Junction City, 50.6 percent of voters were against Measure 91, according to Lane County election results, so a ban can only take place if voters say in a separate election — now slated for November 2016 — that they don’t want local pot shops.

City leaders reviewed the proposed ordinances at a meeting last month. On Tuesday, there was very little discussion amongst Mayor Mike Cahill or the six councilors before they voted on the anti-marijuana ordinances.

“It looks exactly like what we discussed, so I don’t see any problem with it,” Councilor Steven Hitchcock said after he and the others were briefed on the language of both ordinances by city staff members.

“I don’t, either,” Councilor Herb Christensen said.

Only one resident expressed an opinion about the proposed marijuana ordinances during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Patricia Phelan, 67, said she supports both ordinances, and believes marijuana smoking is especially harmful for younger and older citizens.

“The children get left out when people go and buy the marijuana and spend all the money (on it),” Phelan said.

Marijuana smoking also “increases the crime rate, and we don’t want that for our kids or our elderly,” she added.

City Administrator Jason Knope said the next step will be to inform the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, so that neither agency issues anyone a license to open a dispensary in Junction City.

He reminded councilors that the ordinances affect only “the commercial aspect” of the new law, and doesn’t forbid any Junction City residents from growing their own marijuana for personal use.

Elsewhere in Oregon, Douglas County and the cities of Brownsville and Sandy have placed proposed bans on future election ballots, while the city councils of Ontario, Vale and Nyssa have passed outright bans, according to the state liquor commission, which oversees recreational marijuana in the state.

Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkBakerRG . Email [email protected] .