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| An advisory committee was formed in Chico to consider aspects of commercial cannabis operations. |
The Chico City Council finalized its appointments on April 16 to the Cannabis Citizen Advisory Committee.
The members and the categories or groups they represent are:
- Alex Brown: city councilor
- Danielle Campbell: community member at large
- Mike Waltz: community member at large
- Carrie Welch: real estate expert
- Jessica McKenzie: cannabis expert
- Teri DuBose: Downtown Chico Business Association
- Karli Olsen: Chamber of Commerce
- Juanita Mottley: Chico State University
- Jim Hanlon: Chico Unified School District
- Andrew Miller: Butte County Public Health
- Eric Berg: legal expert
Creating the committee was first brought up by Vice Mayor Alex Brown, who requested the formation of a Cannabis Citizen Advisory Committee after a Feb. 5 council discussion on commercial cannabis within city limits.
The committee was approved on March 5 with the goal of making recommendations for how commercial cannabis operations might be allowed in city limits, where they might be located, how many might operate in the city, issues of public safety and more.
Brown explained her intentions and reasoning for discussing commercial cannabis at that first meeting.
“The question here isn’t whether to bring cannabis to our city. In fact, the cannabis industry is alive and well. It’s just operating in the black market,” Brown said. “What I’m promoting today is regulating an unregulated market.”
Many residents who spoke against forming the committee did so on grounds unrelated to the committee itself. Instead, many argued thew committee was a waste of city resources when the city should be focusing resources on other issues like crime prevention.
“What are we discussing here tonight?” asked Chico resident John Adams at the March 5 meeting. “Is it that our roads look like a warzone? Or that we’re still reeling from the growing pains of absorbing so many of our Paradise neighbors? Or that crime is out of control?... With all that what are we discussing? Pot dispensaries.”
Another Chico resident and business owner, Murray Lind, voiced his disapproval as well of “wasting time” discussing cannabis instead of addressing public safety.
“I honestly don’t know how you take yourself seriously up here,” Lind said at the end of the April 2 meeting, when the cannabis committee was discussed again. “Y’all are up here talking about pot? Open the floodgates to the pot… The news is reporting armed robbery everywhere, and we're talking about pot!?”
Jessica MacKenzie, a founding member of the Inland Cannabis Farmers’ Association and a member of the International Cannabis Farmers Association, was appointed to be the local cannabis expert on the committee.
She voiced her opinion in favor of bringing commercial cannabis to Chico at the first council meeting after the committee was created.
“The voters voted for this over two years ago,” she said, speaking of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act — Proposition 64 — passed by California voters in November 2016. “It’s past time for us to do this.”
She described some of her experiences teaching people about cannabis at the Thursday Night Farmers Market while representing the Inland Cannabis Farmers’ Association.
“The first year we were there we mostly got snickers,” she said. “The second year we were there the booth was full every single night, of women mostly, asking about CBD (cannabidiol — a non-psychoactive, compound found in cannabis used by many to treat a wide array of ailments), asking about insomnia, asking about arthritis, asking about glaucoma...That’s the market that’s growing. And those people deserve to have access to something safe and reliable and tested.”
The committee has yet to hold its first meeting, and members contacted for this story preferred not to comment.
With the committee now fully formed, no further discussions are expected until after the committee has a chance to receive input from all members regarding land use, public safety and other issues.
Current plans are for the committee to meet weekly for three to seven weeks (or longer if necessary to receive all input), at which time the city staff will prepare a report from the committee meetings to present to City Council on the findings.
--Josh Cozine