Curry considering cannabis law changes - easternnewmexiconews.com
While the Curry County Commission should not increase the state’s 300-foot minimum distance required between a cannabis business and a school or daycare center, the commission might be able to establish a 1,000-foot distance between a cannabis business and a house of worship.
County Attorney Daniel Macke said the county might have that option because New Mexico’s cannabis law does not mention distance from churches, which may leave the question of distance open to local governments.
The question of churches and allowed minimum distance was raised, among others, at a commission work session Tuesday on whether the county should keep its current ordinance, enact a new one or just follow state requirements.
The idea of repealing the county’s ordinance and leaving only state requirements in place was discussed at the commission’s April 12 meeting but was not resolved.
At the end of Tuesday’s work session, Macke was instructed to draw up a notice of intent to pass a new ordinance that is scheduled to be introduced at Tuesday’s commission meeting. The new ordinance would establish the 1,000-foot minimum distance between cannabis businesses and houses of worship but leave in place the current 300-foot minimum distances between cannabis businesses and schools or daycare centers.
Macke was also instructed to draw up a notice of intent to repeal the county’s current ordinance. The repeal is also scheduled to be introduced on Tuesday.
Pyle said the notice of intent would be followed by publication of both measures and a public hearing before final passage. Pyle said hearings and final passage on both the repeal and the replacement ordinance could happen at the commission’s scheduled June 14 meeting.
County Sheriff Wesley Waller recommended the commission pass its own ordinance to regulate cannabis, because it would give local law enforcement more authority in enforcing laws related to cannabis.
County Manager Lance Pyle agreed. Local law enforcers, he said, could act sooner without “having to wait for Santa Fe” to respond to cannabis business law enforcement matters.
Macke said, however, the county could face liability if a business was denied a license because the county’s distance requirement was greater than the state’s.
Since state law does not mention houses of worship, he said, that may allow the county to include churches in its ordinance and set its own distance requirement.
Macke warned, however, that the ordinance should not have the effect of making it impossible to establish a cannabis business in the county’s rural areas, because that would violate state law.
Commissioner Tom Martin proposed that any new county ordinance related to cannabis should include definitions of “school,” “daycare center,” and “house of worship.”
Martin asked whether a home school could serve as a “school” for establishing minimum distance, and whether a family member’s house where children are dropped off daily would qualify as a “day care center.”
Martin also proposed that distance requirements in the county ordinance for cannabis establishments should be comparable to those for alcohol.
Commissioner Robert Sandoval said cannabis should be considered no more harmful than alcohol, citing an old saying that if one gets five drunks together, they start a fight, but “if you get five potheads together, they start a band.”
Commissioner Seth Martin, however, said that cannabis and alcohol are not the same, even though both are intoxicants. He pointed out that one may purchase alcoholic beverages at a convenience store, but not cannabis products.
The commissioners seemed to agree that the current ordinance must be repealed before another can replace it.
Commissioner Robert Sandoval said any such ordinance should include “the rational basis” for establishing minimum distances between cannabis businesses and schools, day care centers, government buildings or churches.
“It helps me when I defend the ordinance,” he said.
source: https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2022/05/08/news/curry-considering-cannabis-law-changes/171952.html
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