Reefer madness?
Are medical-marijuana dispensaries coming to DeLand, or will changes to the city’s existing law against them go up in smoke?
A deadlocked DeLand Planning Board couldn’t recommend a change to the City of DeLand’s existing rule that prevents medical-marijuana dispensaries from setting up shop within city limits. The Planning Board, however, was open to the idea of medical-marijuana processing facilities opening in areas zoned for industrial development.
How did we get here?
In 2017, following the voter-approved change to Florida law allowing the sale of medical marijuana, the CIty of DeLand had a choice: allow dispensaries for DeLandites who are approved to purchase cannabis for medicinal purposes, or keep them out of the city.
Further, in 2017, state law required that the City Commission either allow dispensaries wherever the city already allowed pharmacies, or just say no to medical marijuana entirely.
Fast-forward to 2021: Cookies, a medical-marijuana grower and distributor operating in around 20 states, purchased a large property near the DeLand airport for cultivating and shipping cannabis. While Cookies is growing cannabis right here in DeLand, the company cannot legally sell it to DeLandites whose medical conditions qualify them to buy it.
In November, representatives…
