APPLE VALLEY — After a marathon meeting that lasted well beyond midnight, the Town Council passed a strict marijuana ordinance with the intention of revisiting the item.
During the meeting that began Tuesday evening, the Apple Valley Town Council codified its moratorium that bans marijuana dispensaries, manufacturing and cultivation. However, many medical marijuana activists in the audience were overjoyed when the Council agreed to bring back the agenda item, with the possibility of medical marijuana delivery.
Attorney Pamela Epstein, who represents the High Desert Cannabis Association, told the Daily Press she was pleased by the Council’s decision, calling the consideration to allow cannabis delivery “baby steps” in the right direction.
“I am cautiously optimistic about what happened this evening and I think every first step is shaky, just like your first step when you are a child,” Epstein said. “We really made some progress with the Council members. And really, all you need is three.”
The “three” members Epstein was referring to, besides Mayor Barb Stanton, were Mayor Pro Tem Scott Nassif and Councilmen Larry Cusack and Art Bishop.
“I think we started a robust discussion about delivery and we proved to the Council that delivery is what the people want,” Epstein said. “I think the anti-marijuana people were outnumbered 40 to 10 in opposition of the ban.”
Epstein said she’ll be meeting with the Town’s attorneys as they prepare to carve out the amendment to ordinance that would allow for the delivery of medical marijuana within the town limits of Apple Valley.
“The High Desert Cannabis Association has already written delivery language for the city of Hesperia so we can work with Apple Valley to upscale the timeline,” Epstein said. “Unlike the comments from Council member Curt Emick and Mayor Pro Tem Nassif, we can control where these deliveries are. They can be clearly and pragmatically regulated.”
The Council also discussed tabling the marijuana agenda item and waiting for the outcome of Proposition 64, a November state ballot measure designed to legalize recreational marijuana and establish a 15 percent sales tax, cultivation tax of $9.25 per ounce for flowers and $2.75 per ounce for leaves.
The six-hour meeting, which included public comment by an army of medical marijuana activists and a handful of those opposed to cannabis use, also included a video and slide presentation by Scott Chipman, the Southern California chair of Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana.
During Chipman’s lengthy presentation, he equated the marketing efforts of today’s cannabis industry to the push by the tobacco industry in the ‘50s and ’60s, when cigarette brands sponsored TV shows, invented jingles and slogans, made smoking attractive and used physicians to tout the benefits of smoking.
Using several medical research studies, Chipman refuted the claims of the cannabis industry that boasts the medicinal benefits of cannabis. He added that CBD oil may have some benefit, but most of the product on the market is untested and dangerous. He added that cannabis is the “snake oil” of today’s generation.
Chipman displayed news articles of children dying at the hands of parents who were using marijuana and adults who either became addicted or died because of the “gateway drug.”
During public comment, Epstein and a small army of medical cannabis activists, including several seniors, refuted several of Chipman’s claims.
One senior woman, who struggled to the podium with a cane, “My pain right now, on a scale of one to 10, I am pushing 20. Marijuana is what makes it possible for me to stand here right now.”
Kasha Herrington, a member of the HDCA, gave an impassioned speech to the Council, saying that children die at the hands of parents because their neglect. She added, that the Council continues to “isolate” and magnify certain tragedies associated with cannabis use.
“You look at use like we’re crazy, I’m not crazy,” Herrington said. “It has not affected me mentally, it has not affected my ability to function, I don’t have brain damage — it has helped me.”
One woman said traffic fatalities have doubled and expulsions from school have increased as a direct result of marijuana use. She stated, “Kids are bringing marijuana to school because weed is cool, and it’s legal, and it’s advertised as a medicine.”
Business woman Laura Hardin, who is also a member of the HDCA, told the Council marijuana has helped her through the physical and mental trauma that she has suffered. She also interjected a bit of humor when she told the audience that marijuana is "a gateway drug to the refrigerator."
Community leader Kelly Bergstrom told the Council, “The point tonight is that we don’t want it in our town. I moved here from Victorville and I like the way the town is now.” She added that she doesn’t care if people are obtaining and using marijuana, “Get if from where you are getting it now. You don’t need to be getting it from Apple Valley.”
The council members expressed their concern and understanding for those suffering and wanting to find relief, including Emick who said his opposition to marijuana use comes from a place of concern for the “public safety” of children and adults.
“These people are here at our doorstep asking for us to help them,” Stanton said. “How far do we go saying no? When does it become a step over the line?”
The town staff and attorneys said they could have passed the ordinance with the provision of cannabis delivery, but the inadequate wording, specifics and legalities of the provision would be in question.