Sunday, July 09, 2017 1:12:03 PM
Collier commissioners are set to decide Tuesday whether to allow medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the county.
In June, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill that essentially gives local governments two options: Ban dispensaries or treat them almost the same as any pharmacy.
The law ends Collier County's efforts to find something of a middle ground after voters approved a constitutional amendment to make medicinal marijuana more available.
If allowed, Collier officials wouldn't be able to limit the number of dispensaries that open in the county.
Collier wouldn't be able to charge dispensaries for zoning or licensing fees any more than it charges a pharmacy.
And it wouldn't be able to deny zoning to a dispensary in any location that a pharmacy could open, other than to keep dispensaries from opening within 500 feet of a school.
More: Medical marijuana dispensary ban extended in Bonita Springs
What the county can decide is yes or no.
"It's tied our hands in my opinion," said Collier Commissioner Penny Taylor, who wants to ban dispensaries from the county. "It's just the lack of local control.
"We have certainly the folks that need this for their illness, but we have the whole community at large to think about," Taylor said. "That’s the big picture."
Collier County voters supported the amendment in November, 64 percent to 36 percent.
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