Even though recreational marijuana is legal in California, cannabis businesses aren’t welcome in Milpitas.

The City Council voted 4-0 Tuesday night to ban them after getting an earful from numerous residents who said such businesses don’t belong in Milpitas. One woman was arrested.

The council asked city staff to draft ordinances for both an urgency ban to go into effect quickly and a permanent ban to follow. The council also asked staff to restrict delivery of marijuana of any kind into the city as much as allowed by law.

Interested in more coverage of the California marijuana industry? Head to TheCannifornian.com or subscribe to The Cannifornian newsletter to get cannabis-related news, features and more.

Just last month, the council had instructed city staff to draft new regulations that could allow up to 10 cannabis dispensaries to operate in the city.

Councilman Anthony Phan recused himself from the discussion and vote Tuesday “out of an abundance of caution” after speakers raised questions about his previous employment with a consulting company that had cannabis business clients.

Hundreds of people packed the council chambers, as well as hallways and the main rotunda of city hall to hear the discussion. Many held signs and posters opposing cannabis businesses.

Some expressed concerns that allowing cannabis businesses in the city will lead to increases in crime and car accidents and put children at risk of addiction.

One woman told the council it’s “general knowledge” that cannabis use causes “brain damage,” as well as “depression and mania.”

Another speaker said Milpitas, because of the nearby Newby Island landfill, is already known as a “city of garbage,” and he doesn’t want it to also be known as a “city of cannabis.”

Some supporters of cannabis businesses said the critics were using “fear-mongering” and “outdated ideas” to make their point, instead of facts.

Speakers also came from other cities, including one man who told the council he lives in San Jose. “But I am Chinese, so I support my friends in Milpitas, because I certainly don’t like drugs,” he said. He also said many Chinese people don’t like drugs because of China’s history with the Opium Wars of the 19th century.

A website that was formed to oppose cannabis business in the city encouraged people to digitally sign a petition on Change.org to show the council they don’t support those businesses in Milpitas, but also noted “you don’t have to be a Milpitas resident in order to sign.”

The council voted to have staff draft an urgency ban because the city’s current temporary ban — in place since shortly after Proposition 64 passed in California making recreational marijuana legal — will expire on Jan. 17, 2019. If a new ban or other rules were not in place by then, cannabis businesses could possibly set up shop in the city illicitly.

Staff said the urgency ban will need to be approved by the Planning Commission at a special meeting that isn’t yet scheduled, then by the council, and would go into effect 30 days after that, which could happen before the temporary ban expires.

Following that, the permanent ban could also be enacted. However, the bans could be changed or removed by a future council.

Vice Mayor Marsha Grilli and Councilman Bob Nuñez both supported regulations to allow cannabis shops last month. After Tuesday’s meeting, they both said they approved the ban because many of the speakers were not informed by the city of the council’s previous action regarding cannabis regulations.

Grilli also said she wants to see more outreach to residents and education about current cannabis regulations in the city and the state, to help counter misinformation she heard at the meeting.

Tran supported the permanent ban, but he also said any proponents of letting cannabis businesses operate in the city should “work on a special election,” and get a petition together.

“I respect cannabis, for those that do decide, with their freedom, to use it,” he said.

The meeting was contentious at times, as some people spoke out of turn and many talked longer than the one-minute time limit allotted. Mayor Rich Tran frequently had to cut people off verbally and bang a gavel to calm the crowd.

Some speakers told the council they would move to recall any of them who supported cannabis businesses in the city, and at one point part of the crowd was chanting “recall” repeatedly.

One woman, who attempted to speak for a second time on the topic was asked to sit down by Tran. As she left the chambers, she was restrained and arrested by multiple Milpitas police officers in a hallway after an officer spotted something in her hand.

A fire department staff member and an officer at the meeting both said she had a pepper spray canister in her hand, and may have tried to use it on an officer, but that could not be immediately confirmed by this news organization.