A special meeting of the Ione City Council Wednesday night dedicated solely to the issue of marijuana regulation in the city was dominated by officials and members of the public who not only denounced the possible commercial sale of the drug in Ione, but the entire concept of pot legalization.
With the exception of a presentation by legal cannabis advocate Ryan Skelly and one speaker, who claimed that legalization had put him out of the pot growing business, the rest of the two and a half hour meeting was used to make the case against marijuana. Scheduled presentations included County Sheriff Martin Ryan, Ione Police Chief Tracy Busby and City Planner April Wooden, with both Ryan and Busby associating marijuana with increases in crime, with Ryan citing Calaveras County and Busby citing statistics and Wooden making the case that commercial pot sales would be hard to administer and would take up limited commercial property in Ione.
Members of the public then lined up to give comments, with a large portion of those speaking being involved in public safety as police or firefighters, either in Ione or other jurisdictions. Commercial sales and use of Marijuana in general was denounced as unsavory, leading to use of other drugs, loss of community, dangerous driving, harm to children, increased traffic, promoting a harmful culture and smelling bad. Other communities such as Calaveras County, Sacramento, Folsom, Stockton and Galt were all cited as negative examples, as places where pot was present and were worse off for it.
The council itself did not discuss any action. A final ordinance governing pot in the city is expected before the end of the year, when state-wide regulations go into effect. Under Proposition 64, passed state-wide last November, personal use and growing of pot is legal, but it remains up to local government whether to allow commercial growing or sales. Amador County and the other four cities in the county have all passed ordinances banning commercial sales and grows. Proposition 64 was passed state-wide in California by a 57 percent yes to 43 percent no margin, but Amador County voted against the Proposition by 48 percent yes to 52 percent no.
credit:ledger.news
