City Council’s Medical Marijuana Debate Continues

After hours of listening to the concerns of local citizens and debating the pros and cons of medical marijuana collectives, the City Council voted on Tuesday to limit the areas in which collectives can be located in San Jose. It was a somewhat deflating vote considering the council had intended to take much more decisive action.

Mayor Chuck Reed and some councilmembers were hoping to settle a matter that has dragged on long enough to see the city’s collectives grow from just a few to more than 100 in the last couple years. The only substantial progress made Tuesday was allowing collectives to be located in commercial and some industrial areas, which Reed and Councilmembers Pete Constant, Kansen Chu, Xavier Campos voted against.

The debate was filled with the some silly proposals—such as collectives only being allowed to pay their employees in weed and prohibiting the distribution of smokeless, edible products—which seemed to sidetrack tackling the bigger issues.

After some examination, though, it seemed many of the councilmembers, including Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen, had turned on the idea of an eBay-style auction for handing out permits. Also, the idea of capping collectives to 10 seemed to lose steam.

The council is expected to take up the matter again next Tuesday.