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Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Zoning Ordinance On Hold

O'Dea at WikiCommons

Orange County planning and zoning commissioners have rejected a proposed ordinance that would restrict medical marijuana treatment centers to industrial zones.

The amendment to the Orange County charter would have also kept treatment centers at least 1500 feet away from schools, daycare centers or parks. Other restrictions included signage, security and parking.

Some commissioners said the ordinance was overly restrictive- or too vaguely worded.Commissioner Rick Baldocchi expressed concerns about the state constitutional amendment on medical marijuana. He said people who think it’s purely for medical purposes - are being "naive".

“Why isn’t Walgreens or CVS here saying ‘we want to sell it’", Baldocchi asked. "We didn’t get a patient here saying ‘I need it.’ We got industry people who are going to profit from it, and the only other people we got are people saying ‘We don’t want it near us’.”

Baldocchi and other commissioners have called for a moratorium until after the November ballot, when Florida voters will decide whether to legalize medical marijuana.