Oceanside’s City Council voted 4-1 this week to add the commercial cultivation of recreational marijuana to its list of regulated cannabis businesses.
All other businesses such as manufacture, testing and distribution will remain for medical uses only for now, but the council agreed to reconsider in six months whether to allow recreational, also called adult-use, marijuana for them.
Opponents say the change continues Oceanside’s gradual creep toward the legalization of all types of cannabis businesses, despite the council’s original stated intention of medical only. Proponents say they are just trying to “level the playing field,” increase the city’s tax revenue and give people fewer reasons to buy from illegal sources.
“I fell for the bait with this just being medical marijuana and good for medical purposes,” said Councilman Jack Feller, the only one to vote against the expansion. “That’s why I voted to let it go forward. It is a true bait-and-switch from what was initially brought before us.”
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