Speaker accuses SLO County of conflicts of interest in cannabis rules

October 22, 2017

San Luis Obispo County supervisors continued sparing over marijuana regulations on Friday. After a full day of contentious debate and allegations of conflicts of interest, the supervisors voted to limit the number of pot grows and reaffirmed plans to ban storefront distribution of cannabis. [Cal Coast Times]

On Oct. 17, the first day of the cannabis regulation hearing, many of the speakers voiced concerns over water usage, smell and safety concerns surrounding marijuana grows. Friday’s speakers were primarily cannabis industry insiders who asked the supervisors to allow the marijuana industry to self regulate.

Supporting self-regulation, Supervisors Adam Hill and Bruce Gibson said that wide-scale marijuana production would bring financial benefits to the county. Hill said that the vast majority of local residents had voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana as a reason for few regulations.

Opponents of a largely unregulated marijuana industry argued that the public voted to legalize recreational marijuana use and not an unregulated industry. Neighbors of some grows voiced concerns with water usage, chemicals, trash and people with guns guarding their cannabis.

Read the rest of the article here.


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Sheriff Donny Youngblood of Kern County told the people that wanted the pot shops and taxation to go to LEO for infocment that by federal law no pot money could not be used by any city,county or state agency. Also any money from pot sales can be put into any financeail account .Any bank can be fined and the money confiscated .Read about th problems Colorado has.


The marijuana industry needs taxed and some level of regulation. The problem is, it is like the foxes guarding the hen house in slo county.


The no store front regulation should throw a wrench into the Grover Beach controversy, right?


I believe the County Supervisors only speak on behalf of the incorporated areas of the County, the less patrolled and regulated part of the County. All the Cities have the store fronts, growers, etc. If people want it, it will be available throughout the County!


No don’t worry, Mayor Shoals special people will still get their permits and Mayor Shoals and Councilman Lee will still get their “special” campaign donations, cough cough.


Not right. The County only controls UNincorporated areas. Cities make their own zoning decisions. Grover Beach is currently the only city allowing dispensaries. Morro Bay considered it and decided to revisit the matter in 6 months.


I read, “Adam Hill said that the vast majority of local residents had voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana as a reason for few regulations”. If that is true, then the obvious place to grow and sell marijuana is where the vast majority of voters live. It should be out in the open for easy supervision negating the need for fire arms and in a couple of years the vast majority may again vote to expand there will on to others who live in the more private areas of the county. As for the read, “Hill and Gibson claim of wide-scale marijuana production would bring financial benefit to the county”, this equates to a very large amount of export just like the cartels. Is this a NAFTA ploy, like we are going to fill the abandoned pangas and pilot them back to Mexico? I am shocked that we have leaders that talk about the money that can be earned by selling Federally illegal drugs while hard earned money (your taxes) is being given away.


Politically it’s all about the money. Have you yet to read anything from a government entity that doesn’t mention money? Remember that all of these potential fees and taxes will go into the General Fund. Close to 75% of the General Fund money goes towards employee salaries, benefits and retirements. So without a whole lot of thinking you can figure out why they are always talking about money and why staff ignored the BOS.


Maybe we need to open the General Fund to competitive bidding. In our ever changing environment, this may be the best way to meet the needs at hand and bank the surplus for catastrophic needs, not pensions. 401K’s can work for everyone, not just for others.