City Council halts change to marijuana law

At a Libby city council meeting on April 17, the planning board’s seven members put forward a unanimous recommendation that the city extends ordinance 1891 to allow the sale of medical marijuana within city limits.

But the ordinance didn’t pass in a vote by the five council members. Gary Beach, Peggy Williams and Brian Zimmerman voted against the ordinance extension while Kristin Smith and Allen Olsen were in favor.

Smith appeared stunned that the motion did not pass “I’m very disappointed,” she told Mayor Teske, “your council has just rejected a unanimous decision by our planning board, which met four times and considered very seriously the effects of this ordinance.”

Some of the concerns discussed in the board’s recommendation memo were the possibility of federal penalisation by withholding funds, the risk of an increase in crime, and the data available to assess the benefits of medical marijuana.

Marijuana is classified as a federal class 1 drug, which means it’s not yet recognized federally as having medicinal purposes. “It’s always an unknown what will happen at a federal level but Libby has always been a very local place,” said Smith in response to concerns about federal funding being taken away.

Barbara Turner, the owner of Libby’s current dispensary, located outside city limits, said: “I’ve never heard of a federal response to a change in city ordinance like this.”

The possibility of an upswing in property crime was addressed in the board’s recommendations as such “there are some studies that suggest overall property crime rates go down when marijuana is legalized, while other studies suggest an uptick in dispensary-related crimes.”

Speaking from the public podium, dispensary owner Turner told the council “there have been three dispensary’s in Libby at one time in 2012, and only one had bars on the windows. There has never been a break-in of a dispensary here, it’s not the norm in our area. At night, we take any product and lock it up at a different location anyway.”

Councilman Gary Beach appeared very concerned about the crime repercussions of the ordinance “I think it’s a terrible idea,” he said of having dispensary’s in the city “if somebody breaks into that joint …” he trailed off as laughter erupted around the room at the unintentional pun. Beach continued “if I were an owner in the business district, I’d want to have some input on this.”

Another concerned citizen, Bill Cunnane, brought up the current lack of standards for police to field test for marijuana intoxication “there is no easy way to test for marijuana use without a blood test, and no metrics to apply to a level of intoxication, so the police are in a bit of a bind,” he said from the stand “although at least with medical marijuana, people are getting the warnings from their doctor’s to not operate a motor vehicle or machinery.”

Although police Chief Kessler included a letter outlining concern about the withdrawal of federal funding as a result of approving the ordinance, councilman Allen Olsen added that when the committee interviewed Kessler, he said: “I’d rather be called out to shut down a marijuana party than an alcohol party.”

In terms of the advantages to Libby of having readily available medical marijuana, the board cites a report by The National Academies of Science, a “non-profit organization composed of the country’s leading researchers”. The report finds that there is a valid amount of evidence from randomized controlled trials that for certain conditions, medical marijuana can provide relief from symptoms, including adverse side effects of mainstream medical treatments like chemotherapy.

The symptoms for which there is strong evidence that medical marijuana can alleviate include chronic pain from a variety of causes, vomiting, nausea and appetite loss and spasticity symptoms like those experienced with multiple sclerosis.

Turner reminds the room “we are talking about medical, not recreational marijuana. Libby is a sick place with very high rates of cancer.” Smith agrees, urging her fellow councilors to “talk to someone who is using medical marijuana to treat a serious illness.”

The board’s recommendations included some restrictions. If the ordinance were adopted, dispensary sites within the city would be limited to the medical district and the business district adjacent to U.S Highway 2 between Maple and Spruce streets. These limits intentionally restrict the industry due to the limited availability of properties in zoning areas. “There are only about four properties which would be appropriate sites in the outlined areas,” said Olsen.

As the last to cast a vote, councilman Brian Zimmerman appeared torn “I’m for medical marijuana, my concern is the locations put forward and the proximity to residential areas” he said, “I’m not one of the landowners who would be affected and I still have a problem with it.”

Dispensaries would also be charged a higher tax amount under the board’s recommendations, with the amount above a regular business being given to the police department. No figures were put forward for the tax amount.

Another requirement of the board was that all marijuana products must be labeled and include warnings to keep out of reach of children, and that marijuana product will only be sold within city limits, and not be grown or manufactured.

The State also has requirements for the sale and manufacture of marijuana products which would be followed by the city. No sale, possession or manufacturing of the products can take place within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds; or within 100 feet of a youth center, public swimming pool, or video arcade facility.

The council agrees to revisit the ordinance extension within 90 days and Mayor Teske thanked the committee for putting forward its findings.

As councilor Smith ponders the future of the ordinance she says “there still seems to be a stigma and a disconnect about this issue. This vote sends a poor message to the volunteers who make up the planning committee that their findings will not be taken into consideration and it sends a poor message to the citizens of Libby that their desire for medical marijuana is not being taken seriously. It’s also a disservice to push the industry to the fringes, as it causes the city to lose out on commerce.”