BY Celina DeCastro
City of Hollywood has given the green light to medicinal marijuana dispensers to begin preparing for commerce.
Commissioner Kevin Biederman said the city will not be waiting on a state legislatures’ July 1 deadline to create medical marijuana dispensary regulations.
“We have areas that we feel are suitable for that commerce and rather than waiting to see what happens, we wanted to get ahead of it, put tough regulations in place that can always be relaxed if needed,” said Biederman.
Regulations the City of Hollywood created includes limitation of dispensaries.
Due to reasonable access to residents, only two dispensaries will be allowed to open within the City of Hollywood regions. One dispensary per 65,000 residents. As the population increases the number of dispensaries is expected to grow in Hollywood.
Biederman said, “That is just to make it to where we don’t have a dispensary on every corner.”
Other regulations for the dispensaries include limitation of location.
These dispensaries have to be at least 1,000 feet away from day care centers, religious buildings, public parks, and schools; 500 feet away from pain clinics, social service facilities, substance abuse centers, and at least 9000 feet away from a pharmacy.
Due to these regulations City of Hollywood will only allow these dispensary zones to be located in industrial and manufacturing districts.
“I think it’s great you know; it benefits our residents that need it,” said Biederman.
Some residents feel that there should be more dispensaries open to the community.
According to Hollywood Commissioner Richard Blattner, during a past meeting an attorney lobbyist complained against the two dispensary limit in the city.
Concerned citizen Julio Lopez, a medical marijuana patient and advocate, feels that regulations are making it harder for people to gain access to the herb.
“But to put [dispensaries] … where people don’t want to go, just because they don’t want them in more popular areas it’s absurd. It’s an issue of accessibility to the patients,” said Lopez.
There are currently only seven dispensaries located in the state of Florida that have licenses to grow, process and sell the medicinal marijuana, while being regulated by the state Department of Health.
The City of Hollywood will not be processing dispensary applications until state legislatures finish drafting the regulations.
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