A dispute between residents and cannabis growers has culminated in Santa Cruz County, causing officials to temporarily suspend growing permits.
After receiving multiple complaints about cannabis agricultural land being too close to homes, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors has approved an emergency ordinance to stop issuing cannabis licenses temporarily to those within 500 feet of a residence.
This decision has split the community in two, causing an outcry within the pot community.
"Let's please have a very very real discussion about how we achieve what we set out to achieve and that’s letting people in not keeping them out," a Santa Cruz resident in opposition of the suspension said.
An employee at a local agricultural supply business implored the board to consider 24 cannabis businesses who have already been through the depths of the licensing process. "A cannabis licensed farm is extremely time consuming and to take the 24 licensees that have already been through this process and invested considerable sums of their own money and pull the rug out from under them, it would be devastating to those people," he explained.
Complaints from residents who support the board’s decision are mostly centered around the potent cannabis smell and public safety concerns.
Related
