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By Ken Graham
The Times 

County Extends Pot Ban

 

December 25, 2014



DAYTON - During their regular meeting last week, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners last week voted to extend the county's moratorium on marijuana businesses three more months. The vote came after a short public hearing in which two speakers encouraged them to allow marijuana businesses in the county.

With the county's yearlong moratorium running out that day, the commissioners faced four choices:

1. Pass an ordinance defining specific zones in which marijuana businesses would be allowed.

2. Pass an ordinance banning all marijuana businesses in the unincorporated parts of the county.

3. Do nothing, in which case marijuana businesses would be treated like other businesses under current zoning regulations.

4. Extend the moratorium.

During the meeting, Columbia County Planning Director Kim Lyonnais presented the board with two draft ordinances, one containing a complete ban, and one defining limited zones, mostly industrial, in which marijuana businesses would be allowed.

When the hearing was opened, Dayton resident Dawn Meicher, who is a nurse practitioner at the Waitsburg Clinic, told the commissioners she feels marijuana businesses should be allowed.

"Since the marijuana initiative passed, several of my patients have opened up about the fact that they smoke it and the benefits it provides," she said. Most wouldn't have told her about it before, she added.

Meicher said that those patients were concerned that the pot they get on the black market isn't regulated or checked for safety. "I want my patients to have a safe product," she said.

Regarding potential abuse, Meicher said, "This should not be a criminal issue; it should be a mental health issue."

The second and final member of the public to speak was Mike Bates, who is director of the Walla Walla County Juvenile Justice Center. The center has a contract with Columbia County to provide juvenile justice services, including juvenile detention.

Bates said he would rather see marijuana sold through safe, well-regulated businesses. "Marijuana is still illegal for people under 21," he said. "But kids have always gotten it. It's better to have it regulated."

After the hearing was closed, Commissioner Mike Talbott said that the opinions presented were new ones for the commissioners. "The previous hearing we had, everyone who spoke, spoke in favor of a ban," he said. "This is new information."

After several minutes of discussion, Commissioner Dwight Robanske made a motion to extend the current moratorium three more months. It passed unanimously.

Robanske and Talbott both said they needed more time to gather information on how community safety could be a benefit of legal marijuana, and they needed to give incoming Commissioner Merle Jackson more time to get up to speed on the issue.

 

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