Tonight on The Real Issue, we will spend the entire hour talking about cannabis. After decades of criminalizing the use of cannabis, where countless lives were destroyed, not by the use of cannabis, but by the War on Drugs, cannabis is legal for medical use in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The recreational use of cannabis is legal in 17 states, the District of Columbia, and several US territories. You are probably well aware that California voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016, legalizing the adult use of cannabis for recreational purposes, and sale of cannabis became legal by January 2018.
Here in Butte County, voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana, and here in Chico, over 60% of voters approved legalization and sales.
Since the passage of prop 64, all levels of government have been working out the details of this new industry, an industry that can supply tax revenues for municipalities. For example, in our neighboring community of Marysville, just south of Butte County, their local dispensaries are expected to increase their city budget by about $800,000 this year alone, and with a population of around 12,000, Marysville is 1/tenth the size of Chico.
This new industry is also good for the economy, as it is a jobs creator. Someone must grow the cannabis, someone must turn it into a sellable product, such as CBD oil, and then someone must actually sell it.
This City of Chico was well on its way to having dispensaries, four dispensaries to be exact, within the city limits. Councilmember Alex Brown ran on the issue, and she led the effort to bring a very diverse group of people together to decide on what a local ordinance would include.
As Councilmember Brown said to me recently, the majority of people on the Chico Commercial Cannabis Citizens Advisory Committee, were cannabis skeptics, or people against having dispensaries in the City. But, with her leadership, an ordinance was created by the committee, and adopted by the City Council in 2019.
An application process was also created to determine who would receive the four business licenses, with one shared opinion by all members of the committee, that local business should receive those licenses.
Upon the swearing in a new City Council in December of 2020, Councilmember Sean Morgan requested that the resolution that determined application fees be brought back for reconsideration, because, as he stated, there was no direct revenue.
Then, at the City Council meeting last week, Councilmember Brown requested the implementation of a community benefit agreement to meet Morgan’s request, and to resume application process for business licenses. At that same meeting, in response Brown, Councilmember Kasey Reynolds moved instead to completely change the existing ordinances, reducing the number of dispensaries, and introducing a pay-for-play component into the selection process.
If you have whiplash, or don’t understand all of the lingo here, don’t worry. My guest for hour is one of the most knowledgeable about the cannabis industry, and has been involved educating our elected officials and helping to write the local ordinances.
Jessica MacKenzie is the Executive Director of the Inland Cannabis Farmers’ Association. She was appointed to the Chico Commercial Cannabis Citizens Advisory Committee, as the cannabis expert.
