Martin County to allow medical marijuana dispensaries — with restrictions

Lisa Broadt | Treasure Coast Newspapers

Show Caption Hide Caption Marijuana dispensary in Port St. Lucie St. Lucie County's first medical marijuana dispensary opens June 1. GINNY BEAGAN/TCPALM

MARTIN COUNTY — Medical-marijuana dispensaries will be free to open here, albeit with restrictions, according to the County Commission.

The county will require dispensaries to follow the same location restrictions as pharmacies, rather than ban them. The commission approved the limitations 4-1 Tuesday.

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Commissioner Ed Fielding — the dissenting vote — said he worried about government getting involved with a drug that remains illegal under federal regulations.

"I'm familiar with the potential medicinal aspects of the marijuana," Fielding said, "but what I'm addressing is the problems that emanate from ... having a government body say, 'Yeah, it's OK. Let's have dispensing facilities.'"

Chairman Ed Ciampi, however, said he believed it was important to respect the will of the voters: 71 percent of Florida voters and 70 percent of Martin County voters approved a 2016 constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana for patients with illnesses including cancer, Crohn's disease, epilepsy and glaucoma, Martin County Supervisor of Elections data shows.

Nicki van Vonno, Growth Management Department director, on Tuesday told commissioners that county regulations imposed in 2011 on pain-management clinics, including medical-marijuana facilities, were in conflict with state statute.

Local governments can require medical-marijuana dispensaries to follow the same regulations as pharmacies or ban them outright, but cannot customize location requirements or limit the number of dispensaries, according to state law.

Local governments also are prohibited from regulating the cultivation, processing or dispensing of medical marijuana, according to the state.

A number of dispensaries already have opened on the Treasure Coast.

Liberty Health Sciences on June 1 opened the Cannabis Education Center — St. Lucie County’s first medical-marijuana dispensary — in St. Lucie Square, the shopping center anchored by the Port St. Lucie Walmart Supercenter.

On April 12, Trulieve opened a dispensary in Vero Beach, attracting a first-day crowd that waited more than three hours for the doors to open.

Seventy-five doctors in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard counties are authorized by the state Office of Medical Marijuana to recommend medical marijuana to their patients.

A recent Florida Association of Counties survey of 24 counties showed about half allow dispensaries, with or without restrictions; about one-quarter ban dispensaries outright; and about one-quarter have imposed moratoriums while they consider what action to take, van Vonno said.

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