Since 2014, Florida cities and counties have received the butt-end of Tallahassee’s unwillingness to be forthright about the Medical Marijuana issue.
As Dunedin city commissioners are currently experiencing, there is a major conundrum being faced by local Florida governments. At the crux of the controversy is medical marijuana dispensaries themselves.
While these governments seek to abide by the wills of the voters, who voted close to 75% in favor of medical marijuana treatment, they’re boggled down by bad policy at the state level. These governments, who wish to have some say over where a dispensary may operate in their area, are forced to ban the facilities altogether because of language coming from state legislators saying that a city can either ban dispensaries or allow them free-reign like any other pharmacy.
In other words, do city officials allow marijuana dispensaries in a small, predominantly Christian town like Starke, Florida, to pop-up like any other CVS or Walgreens, or do they temporarily ban them and lobby Tallahassee lawmakers for better policies?