STURGIS, S.D. – The Sturgis City Council Monday night passed second and final reading of a temporary ordinance that will govern Medical Marijuana until the state rules are in place.
State officials do not anticipate having any rules in place until the fall, so many communities are working on temporary ordinances to govern medical marijuana’s rollout until that happens.
City Manager Daniel Ainslie says like many other communities, they need something in place before July 1.
“The council is taking a recommendation from our Planning and Zoning Committee that starting on July 1, we are not going to be accepting any applications for a medical marijuana dispensary. Now, this is a temporary ordinance. It’s not that we expect to deny it for a longer time period, but we are essentially putting this ordinance in place so we can prepare for the longer term.”
In addition, Ainslie says they want to keep people from smoking medical marijuana in certain public places.
“This includes no smoking of medical marijuana in public rights-of-ways, parks or in public areas of businesses.”
The ordinance includes an emergency provision to allow it to go into effect immediately. Ainslie says this will allow the city to reject any license applications on July 1.
Now that the temporary ordinance is in place, Ainslie says there will be numerous policy decisions regarding medical marijuana that will need to be considered by the council in the upcoming months.
