After a wide-ranging discussion, the Union City Commission voted 3-1 to prohibit all cannabis-related business operations within the city.
Medical cannabis will be legal in Kentucky on Jan. 1, 2025. As such, cities across the Bluegrass State have until June 30 to create regulations that would allow or prohibit those types of businesses to operate. Cities must have those regulations in place by June 30 so the state can begin issuing licenses. If those businesses start operations, they will be grandfathered against any future regulation.
Mayor Larry Solomon and commissioners John Mefford, Jeremy Ramage and Doug Bine voted in favor of an ordinance prohibiting cannabis businesses, while commissioner Brian Garner voted against it.
Garner, specifically, was against the ordinance, saying he found it “frustrating” the city was considering prohibiting medical cannabis businesses.
“There’s no other medication that the city would consider banning the distribution of,” Garner said. “It’s medical. To pretend that there’s this social stigma around it and both sides are equal weight, I think is a disservice.”
Mefford had a different perspective and felt that allowing medical cannabis businesses within Union could eventually pave the way for a recreational dispensary. He questioned whether Union would be opening a “Pandora’s Box” if it didn’t take prohibitive action in the short term.
“You’re talking about medical marijuana, but it’s not just going to be medical marijuana in two or three years — it’s going to be recreational marijuana as well,” Mefford said. “That same dispensary is going to be sitting there selling recreational marijuana to everybody that walks into that store.”
Ramage said he felt similarly to Mefford. Ramage did say he supported the use of medical cannabis for people suffering from diseases, but he ultimately felt as though it wasn’t the right fit for Union.
“I just don’t know that families want to move here knowing that that’s in our backyard,” he said.
Despite the variety of perspectives, Solomon said Union’s overarching plan was to leave the decision up to the voters of Boone County. The question is set to appear on the county’s ballot in November.
“What this (ordinance) is that this is not allowed for that period up until the election so what happens is, if the citizens vote in favor, this will be repealed,” Solomon said.
Boone County is in the process of deciding whether or not to prohibit cannabis businesses countywide. If Boone County opts not to allow the businesses to operate, but a city within that county opts in, state law would allow those businesses to operate within that city’s jurisdictional boundaries.
The county hosted a cannabis expert panel on June 7 and invited members of the community to attend. The panel consisted of local healthcare experts, people from the health department, the sheriff’s office, the drug strike task force, and the county attorney. Solomon said he and Union City Administrator Amy Safran were both in attendance.
At the panel, Solomon said he spoke with Boone County officials and explained the city’s plan regarding its prohibition ordinance.
“I explained to them what our direction was, that we made the decision to ban it until the election and then when that it goes on the ballot and then we’ll rescind the if the election goes that way,” Solomon said.
Boone County will make a prohibition decision at its upcoming fiscal court meeting on Tuesday, June 18, at 5:30 p.m.
