ANNA MARIA – The city of Anna Maria is trying to revise its current marijuana prohibitions in a manner that would allow CBD and hemp products to be legally sold in the city.
The city’s code of ordinances currently prohibits the sale of any product derived from cannabis plants, including medical marijuana and over-the-counter CBD and hemp products.
On March 14, City Attorney Becky Vose presented the mayor and city commission with the first reading of proposed Ordinance 24-923, an ordinance that would repeal and replace the city’s existing marijuana prohibitions.
City officials are revisiting the existing city ordinance enacted many years ago that prohibits medical marijuana dispensaries in Anna Maria – an action taken shortly before Florida voters approved the legal sale of medical marijuana.
The current ordinance came into question when Holmes Beach-based CBD vendor Mel Wendel was denied participation in an arts and crafts show taking place in Anna Maria. A short time later, the owners of the North Shore Café and the owners of the Cool Beans AMI coffee shop received notices of violation for selling hemp products and/or CBD products, including a hemp powder that contains microscopically low levels of THC.
PROPOSED ORDINANCE
The new ordinance Vose proposed would still prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries but would allow retail establishments to sell CBD and hemp products as long as those products didn’t equate to more than 10% of the retail establishment’s inventory.
The ordinance proposed prohibiting the mobile sales of any products made from cannabis plants unless such sales are pursuant to a city commission-approved special event at which no more than 10% of the event’s total inventory could consist of CBD and/or hemp products.
The commission questioned how a 10% inventory threshold could possibly be enforced. Mayor Dan Murphy acknowledged that would require an audit of the establishment’s entire inventory, which is not something the city intends to do.
Commissioner Jon Crane opposed the proposed $500 fine for a first-time offense. He feels that’s too high and not consistent with other fines levied in Anna Maria.
Murphy said the city needs to establish a fine amount that’s reasonable but high enough to deter business owners from considering the daily fine to simply be the cost of doing business in Anna Maria.
Vose suggested an initial $50 per day fine that would escalate to $500 per day after five days’ notice.
Vose said the proposed Anna Maria ordinance is not modeled after the Holmes Beach ordinance that allows CBD stores and CBD sales, and as currently written, would not allow CBD stores in Anna Maria.
Commissioner Mark Short said the proposed ordinance doesn’t address the potency of the CBD products sold and he’d like that addressed in the ordinance. Short said he would like the city’s potency allowance to be as low as possible. Vose said the state already regulates the potency and labeling of CBD products and the city isn’t going to purchase CBD products and send them to a lab to be tested.
Commissioner Charlie Salem asked Vose if the city can prohibit the sale of CBD products allowed by the state.
“Yes, we can. We can regulate them,” Vose said.
Vose noted the Florida Legislature recently sent proposed legislation to Gov. Ron DeSantis that would further restrict CBD sales in Florida. If supported by the governor, the revised state regulations could impact the city’s efforts to revise its local regulations.
When asked if the city can regulate CBD and THC references on business signs, Vose said federal law prohibits the regulation of sign content.
As the discussion came to a close, Murphy said more research and commission discussion is needed regarding inventory thresholds, potency levels, fine amounts and other factors. The commission took no formal action on the proposed ordinance and the regulatory efforts remain a work in progress.
