San Diego County bans new marijuana operations, phases out others
Four months after a majority of San Diego County voters supported a statewide proposition to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed a ban on cannabis shops and farms in unincorporated areas.
In November, 57 percent of county voters backed Proposition 64, a ballot measure that makes recreational marijuana legal, regulated, and eventually, taxable. It also gave local governments the ability to regulate where cannabis facilities could be located, or ban them entirely.
On Tuesday, supervisors exercised that option and voted 3-2 to stop almost all new medical and recreational marijuana facilities from opening. Three dispensaries that are operating must close by 2022. Two that are in the permitting process may still open up, but must also close in five years.
The new ban is a culmination of a process that began a year ago with an emergency moratorium on new dispensaries and growing operations.
Read more: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sd-me-supervisors-marijuana-20170315-story.html