GOING TO POT: SACRAMENTO APPROVES MARIJUANA GROWING

East County News Service

February 3, 2016 (Sacramento) – At a time when many local cities in San Diego County are banning the cultivation of marijuana even for medical purposes, our state’s capitol city has approved a measure to license and tax commercial marijuana cultivation. 

The measure won approval by an 8-0 vote of the Sacramento City Council on Tuesday. The city estimates it will reap several million dollars a year in taxes off marijuana cultivation. 

Sacramento has long been at the forefront on licensing medical marijuana clinics. The city was among the first to license medical marijuana dispensaries in 2010 and last year, raked in $2.86 million in taxes off those clinics.

Grow facilities could be up to 22,000 feet--or four times the size of an NBA basketball court, according to KCRA News.

The measure does impose some limits on where in the city the commercial growing operations could be located, and imposes a 45-day moratorium while city staff comes up with standards for operations including indoor grow facilities, which must have permits.

Currently there are already numerous cultivators operating illegally in Sacramento.  Illicit growing operations have caused a variety of problems, including a fire caused by overloaded electrical circuits in a Sacramento-area home, CBS News reported.  Other growers have pilfered precious water.  Creating a legal framework for large-scale growing could help undercut the black market for cannabis.

The new law provides a framework to collect tax revenues off cultivators who can comply with the city’s new rules as well as state regulations.

Money from taxing marijuana growing will be used to fund youth programs in the city, the Sacramento Bee reports.

The city council will also consider next week whether to ask voters to hike the city’s business occupancy tax on commercial marijuana growers.  With local dispensaries in Sacramento selling up to 100 pounds of marijuana a month by some estimates, that could bring a lot of pot crop cash into the city’s coffers.