On Jan. 1, You Can Buy Pot in California for Recreational Use, Just Not in La Verne

LA VERNE, California, October 28, 2017 — Using marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes may have become legal the day after California voters approved Proposition 64 (the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act) last November, but if you’re looking to buy some cannabis in La Verne, you’re flat out of luck!

That was the unanimous decision of the La Verne City Council on Oct. 16, 2017.

“The City Council finds that the prohibition on commercial cannabis activity is necessary for the preservation of and protection of the public health, safety and welfare of the city,” the new ordinance reads. “The prohibition of such uses is within the authority conferred upon the City Council by state law and is an exercise of its police powers to enact and enforce regulation for the public health, safety and welfare.”

It had been expected that the new ordinance would have gone on the books in September, but it was pulled when city staff decided that revisions were needed so that the city’s proposed ordinance would conform with the state’s Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed in June.

La Verne has banned all medical dispensaries in La Verne since January 2016, but with the new ordinance now in effect, all commercial cannabis activities and uses associated with medical and “adult-use cannabis” are prohibited.

The new ordinance, however, does not prohibit residents from growing a maximum of six marijuana plants for personal use “within a fully enclosed and secure structure at a residence, subject to reasonable regulations to the city.”

Growers will be required to obtain a permit from the city’s Community Development Department and pay any fees required by the City Council.

Cities across California, including La Verne, have been scrambling to put new regulations in place ahead of the Jan. 1, 2018 cut-off date, when the state begins to oversee recreational marijuana activities.

For more information, please visit cannabis.ca.gov.