A Second Arizona Town Passes Law to Ban Recreational Marijuana

The small town of Sahuarita, Arizona, located 15 miles south of Tucson, has passed an ordinance to ban recreational marijuana, but only partially. Prop 207 is expected to pass, so anti-marijuana towns are starting to ban the industry as best as they can. Sahuarita has become the second town — with Gilbert being the first — that has passed a new anti-cannabis law.

The Sahuarita Town Council passed the new law with a 6-1 vote, KOLDNews reported.

″I think there was enough concern on everybody that we’d rather be cautionary proactive,” said Tom Murphy, Sahuarita’s mayor.

The town’s new ordinance doesn’t ban all things recreational marijuana, it just restricts aspects of the recreational marijuana industry if Prop 207 passes. For instance, a medical marijuana dispensary with a recreational license can sell recreational marijuana, but there cannot be any recreational-only dispensaries operating in the town. Furthermore, the town restricted the “use, sale, cultivation, manufacture, production or distribution of marijuana or marijuana products” on property controlled by the town.

Under Prop 207, it is illegal for people to use marijuana in public. Fortunately, the town’s new ordinance doesn’t prohibit people in the town from using marijuana in private places such as a home. It appears that home cultivation is still allowed too.

Even though the town of Sahuarita is off the beaten path, Murphy said, ″I think there was a concern that we don’t necessarily want to be that magnet that other communities come to, but as you heard it’s open for discussion.”

The town currently has one medical marijuana dispensary in it, and under the new ordinance it will not be affected. And if that dispensary obtains a “dual license,” for medical and recreational sales, the ordinance will not prohibit it from selling recreational marijuana to adults 21 and older.

“Not allowing any other competition, it is possible that dispensary’s prices could go up,” said the Southern AZ NORML chapter.

Sahuarita’s town council has essentially permitted the town’s one dispensary to have a monopoly on recreational marijuana sales. If this happens, many Arizonans living in that area will likely make the drive to Tucson where they’ll have more dispensaries and deals to choose from.