Clark County commissioners signaled Wednesday they are considering an effective ban on all marijuana-related operations.

With a six-month moratorium set to expire in February, commissioners said during a work session Wednesday they will need to issue another moratorium because they know they won’t have an ordinance on marijuana adopted in time.

They also directed staff to prepare a draft ordinance modeled after Pierce County’s, which sets restrictions on marijuana facilities but includes a whopper of a caveat: “No application for a marijuana-licensed business shall be approved by Pierce County until such time as marijuana is removed from the schedule of controlled substances at 21 U.S.C. sec. 812(c) as evidenced by a slip law available from the Library of Congress.”

In other words, if commissioners end up adopting an ordinance modeled on Pierce County’s, the county won’t allow growing, processing or selling of marijuana in unincorporated areas until the federal government legalizes the drug, said Chris Horne, Clark County’s chief civil deputy prosecuting attorney.

As to whether an effective ban would be legal, Axel Swanson, the county’s senior policy adviser, told commissioners he’s awaiting a written opinion from Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. Ferguson was asked Nov. 1 by the chairwoman of the Washington State Liquor Control Board to determine whether local jurisdictions have the authority to ban state-licensed sellers and producers.