The Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday wrote medical marijuana businesses into the city's zoning ordinance, allowing growers and sellers to operate in the same areas as retail pharmacies provided they are not too close to schools and churches.
The measure, which city directors approved by an 8-1 vote, is identical to the requirements in the voter-approved Medical Marijuana Amendment to the state constitution. Director B.J. Wyrick voted against the ordinance. Director Ken Richardson was absent.
The constitutional amendment says that local governments cannot prohibit marijuana growers and sellers from operating in their jurisdictions unless voters approve a ballot issue to keep them out.
The Medical Marijuana Commission will license up to 32 dispensaries in Arkansas -- as many as four in each of eight geographic regions -- and up to five growing facilities across the state. Prospective businesses have until Sept. 18 to apply for state licenses.
Generally, two laws govern where dispensaries and cultivation facilities can function. One requires a buffer zone around schools and churches. The other bans cities from imposing stricter placement requirements on medical-marijuana facilities than they do on traditional pharmacies.
During an agenda-setting meeting last week, Wyrick suggested that the city put tighter regulations on medical marijuana businesses, saying the city has previously imposed more restrictions on convenience stores that don't sell gasoline, for example.
City Attorney Tom Carpenter said he's not confident those restrictions would withstand a legal challenge.
"If just before the deadline, we change the [zoning] ordinance, that would be seen as pretextual, and I don't think it would stand," Carpenter said.
Metro on 08/16/2017