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Approved 6.5.24
<br /> 698
<br /> 699 Delores Bailey: What happens if marijuana is legalized in North Carolina?
<br /> 700
<br /> 701 Cy Stober: That's a great question and it's going to be a big headache for me. I don't know, Mr. Bailey,
<br /> 702 1 just don't know. Because there's so many variables, and states have regulated marijuana recreationally or
<br /> 703 medicinally in so many different ways, so I just don't know. I mean, I grew up in Ohio which just legalized medical
<br /> 704 use of marijuana, but they're doing it essentially in like with an ABC permit. Other places are treating it like it's any
<br /> 705 other business. We don't know what might happen with statewide legalization.
<br /> 706
<br /> 707 Beth Bronson: So, in North Carolina they issued 30 growers permits for hemp. And so, to that point, 1
<br /> 708 would think medical marijuana is very much coming really quickly.
<br /> 709
<br /> 710 Cy Stober: I haven't seen the draft legislation. I have seen that it is markedly different from what was
<br /> 711 introduced 2 years ago in the short session, and then what was debated in the long session. I'm watching it
<br /> 712 because it's going to be a major amendment to our Ordinance and I imagine we'll have a lot of public input on
<br /> 713 that, but I really don't know how the state proposes to—and just to be blunt, if it's for medical use it's much
<br /> 714 simpler for us. It will be likely licensed and affiliated with some sort of medical institution. It becomes a much
<br /> 715 simpler conversation than if we're going with retail dispensaries like they have in Nevada or where else,
<br /> 716 Michigan, I don't know what we'll do.And I don't know what the pleasure of the Commissioners will be in terms of
<br /> 717 regulating it because it's a very political conversation. I think that the, to probably speak out of turn, I think that
<br /> 718 the discussion about youth targeting will not change, but the politics of who should have access to these
<br /> 719 products and why and under what circumstances is also to be determined.
<br /> 720
<br /> 721 Beth Bronson: I do want to piggyback off that and to your point about that, when you make it a Conditional
<br /> 722 District or say that it has to be the primary use, what you're doing is maybe excluding those businesses or
<br /> 723 creating a barrier for those businesses to establish themselves in the incorporated county area that we have
<br /> 724 jurisdiction of, however you are driving those tobacco and hemp retail products into locations where minors are
<br /> 725 completely welcome, like a gas station where that's not their primary use, but it's plastered all over the walls, it's
<br /> 726 plastered behind the counter, it's plastered to the corner of the counter, so what you would be doing is effectively
<br /> 727 saying, "well,you can't have a tobacco and hemp dedicated store but you could have a gas station that makes 49
<br /> 728 percent of the profits from those materials," and I think that needs to be considered with Commissioner Fowler
<br /> 729 having really good intentions and understandably so,wanting to create some form of regulation, I think you have
<br /> 730 to be careful about what that reaction is going to be.The unintended consequence is that kids are at gas stations,
<br /> 731 kids go to gas stations after the school bus stopped and if they see those hemp products and those tobacco
<br /> 732 products in there and they continue to, and it's not taken away from those public locations where everybody is
<br /> 733 allowed, and again designated like an ABC store. I just worry that you're creating more of a—it's not exactly
<br /> 734 harm reduction.
<br /> 735
<br /> 736 Cy Stober: So, the modification to the motion could include that concern.
<br /> 737
<br /> 738 Beth Bronson: To my point about making it restrictive, my recommendation would be to add the delta to
<br /> 739 certain commercial districts, having them meet that thousand feet to the schools or things like that. Does that
<br /> 740 make sense to everybody? Like the idea of allowing them or you could do a Conditional Zoning, but as well,
<br /> 741 making it as contingent on meeting these conditional requirements of the thousand feet from the school and
<br /> 742 there's a few others, I think, but then allowing them in NC2, GC3, EC4, EC5, LC1 potentially,as a matter of those
<br /> 743 Rural Nodes could potentially use a retail store like this and drive business to an area like Dodson's Crossroads
<br /> 744 or something like that. Not to say that it would be positive or negative, but again, only 18 year olds are allowed in
<br /> 745 that store anyways, so I'm just wanting to put it out there before we make a motion on this particular one, is there
<br /> 746 anything anybody thinks about that?
<br /> 747
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