Yucca Valley’s Planning Commission heard from more than two dozen people last night about an ordinance that would prohibit all personal and commercial uses of marijuana in town limits, but would allow residents to grow six plants indoors. Managing editor Tami Roleff was there, and files this report…
“I would think you would be equally concerned about stores selling alcohol and tobacco, which are far more dangerous to children. No body dies from marijuana… If you don’t license and regulate stores, you will still have just as much marijuana as if you did. But what you won’t have is hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue from the residents of Yucca Valley, Twentynine Palms, Joshua Tree, Landers, and the unincorporated areas in San Bernardino County who will be going to Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, and Cathedral City to buy their marijuana there… If you think prohibiting locally licensed and regulated marijuana distribution is going to mean less marijuana here, and make Yucca Valley safer, I wonder what you’ve been drinking.”
That was Lanny Swerdlow, of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, who was one of more than two dozen people who spoke at the Yucca Valley Planning Commission’s public hearing last night about a draft ordinance prohibiting all personal and commercial uses of marijuana in town limits.
Vickie Bridenstine of Yucca Valley said residents already expressed their feelings about marijuana when they voted down Measure X in 2015, which would have allowed medical marijuana dispensaries in town limits.
“I think [allowing marijuana in Yucca Valley is] disrespectful to voters who made clear their opinion just a couple years ago. [The ordinance] provides for the rights of our citizens to grown their own plants and get high in their own homes, and my rights not to see it, smell it, or breathe it. If they want to get high, they have the right to do so in their own home, but not in public. Their right to get high should not affect me. Their right to get high should not infringe upon my right not to be exposed to their second hand smoke, odors, or even the sight of their plants.”
Commission chair Steve Whitten was happy with the ordinance.
“I think the ordinance complies with number one, federal law; number two, state law; and number three, with our council’s direction that we are appointed to represent… And most of all, it fits the will of the people of town of Yucca Valley and what they desire.”
And with that, the planning commission voted 4-1 to send the draft ordinance to the Town Council, with commissioner John Terfehr voting against it because he felt the ordinance should allow delivery of medical marijuana as a permitted activity.
