As expected, the public hearing on the marijuana ban ("temporary moratorium") that passed last month was a packed house. Over 75 people crammed into the council chambers to speak on the issue - and speak they did. I was not able to stay to the end of the meeting but here are the essentials. 

The Good: Faced with a somewhat hostile crowd, the council still made the right choice. They lifted the moratorium on retail marijuana stores and allowed them in commercial and industrial zoned areas of the city. The state requires that there are no marijuana operations within 1,000 feet of a school, park, transit center, library, child care center, playground or arcade (yes, really, an arcade, they still have those, you know!).

The result is that the stores will be limited to Iowa St, Northwest Avenue near Albertsons and the Guide Meridian. As I said, this is a very good thing, they are allowing stores to open in a handful of locations that are accessible to Bellingham residents.

The Bad: Medical marijuana growing operations, perpetually living in a legal grey zone, have been restricted to industrial zones (Iowa St), however it is my understanding the ordinance will allow a few small plants to kept for personal use in residential areas (the closet grow). Growing large enough quantities for medical marijuana consumers can be difficult to do with a few plants in a house, so now sick patients must travel to Iowa St. to tend their little patch of the community garden.

It is a difficult situation but one that does not have a simple solution except time. As the retail marijuana market rolls out, I imagine the medical marijuana business will contract down to just the people who need it the most - with many others with mild symptoms opting for the simplicity of the retail market (as you see with aspirin or cold medicine, you could get a prescription but it is easier to just grab a bottle at Fred Meyer). Once the medical marijuana community shrinks down to just patients and providers, I imagine it will be easier for state and city governments to loosen the requirements, free from concerns of abuse.

The Ugly: The crowd. I was really disappointed in some of the people who attended the public hearing last night. They were rude to speakers they didn't agree with - loudly scoffing at concerns over smell and noise - and hostile to the council. Not all speakers acted like this, several offered very moving personal testimony about their medical challenges, however, there were enough caustic speakers to make a significant impact. I kept thinking, "Do you believe that will help? Do you think that is an effective way to persuade someone?" There is a difference between forcefully raising concerns and letting your angry tone drown out your message; a mistake I sometimes make right here on this blog. I understand the impulse to rage against the establishment but I was still disappointed that some attendees were so dismissive.

Overall, I am very pleased with the actions of our City Council, but I wish this whole ordeal had been more public; we should have had an opportunity to know about the various options presented at the meeting (restricting retail stores to only industrial zones, or restricting it altogether) before the meeting itself, however the council made the best of a bad situation. Hopefully, the city legal department will be more proactive in the future instead of waiting for these situations to erupt and forcing the council to legislate by emergency ordinance rather than the standard process.