A special Mitchell City Council meeting was held last night at City Hall in downtown Mitchell to discuss the city’s preparations for the legalization of medical marijuana in South Dakota, which happens on July 1st.

“This relates to IM 26, which was the medical marijuana portion of the state law that goes into effect July 1st,” said Mitchell Mayor Bob Everson.  “Whether you like it or not is irrelevant.  It is going to go into law.  People will be able to have medical marijuana.  What we’re trying to do is limit the areas where this can be sold, grown, and processed, and that’s what this ordinance does.”

Mitchell City Attorney Justin Johnson said the city needed to draft some regulations, otherwise anything goes.

“If we don’t put anything in place, then it’s essentially the Wild West, and you know, people can do anything that we haven’t prohibited,” Johnson told the council.  “I think it is important that we get some kind of regulations on the book even if we have to come back at a future date and make additional changes to them down the road.”

Johnson says there are several different facilities to regulate when it comes to medical marijuana: cultivation facilities, testing facilities, product manufacturing facilities, and dispensaries.

Medical marijuana establishments would be able to operate with a permitted use in highway business oriented districts and transportation, warehousing, and commercial districts, and with a conditional use permit in central business districts.

Buffer zones of 300 feet were also established near educational and religious institutions, childcare centers, preschools, nurseries, and detention and mental health facilities.  State law requires a 1,000-foot buffer zone around schools.  Dispensaries also would have a 1,000-foot buffer zone from other marijuana dispensaries.

The city’s ordinance sets a maximum of five licenses for marijuana dispensaries. There is no cap on the other licenses. A $5,000 application fee was set for each kind of license.

A second reading on the marijuana ordinances is expected to take place next month.