BIDDEFORD — The City Council voted 5-4 in favor of extending the city’s existing moratorium on medical marijuana growing facilities in its meeting Tuesday.

In September, the council extended the city’s moratorium on granting permits to new medical marijuana growing facilities to Dec. 31. Tuesday’s vote will extend the temporary prohibition on the establishment of any new medical marijuana dispensaries and growing facilities for 90 days, until March 20, 2017.  

City Councilors Laura Seaver, Michael Swanton, Bob Mills and Robert Quattrone dissented. 

Swanton, who has taken opposition to city marijuana regulations in the past, voiced his disapproval with both ordinances Tuesday.

“I don’t believe I’ve supported any of the moratoriums and I’m not going to support this one, either,” he said.

The council also voted 6-3 in favor of enacting a separate 180-day moratorium on retail marijuana stores, facilities and social clubs, allowed under the Marijuana Legalization Act, which legalized the drug for recreational use and was voted into the Maine statutes by referendum on Nov. 8.

The act, when it goes into effect, will allow the possession and use of marijuana under state law by people who are at least 21 years of age and allow for the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, testing, and sale of marijuana and marijuana products subject to state regulation, taxation and local ordinance.

The referendum, which was Question 1 on the Nov. 8 ballot, passed at the state level by a narrow margin of 3,995 votes, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap announced Wednesday. Biddeford residents voted 5,568 to 4,544 in favor of legalizing recreational use of marijuana.

Under the act, municipalities are authorized to regulate the number of retail marijuana stores and the location and operation of such retail facilities within their jurisdiction.

“The unregulated location and operation of retail marijuana establishments … raises legitimate and substantial questions about the impact of such establishments and social clubs on the City, including … the potential adverse health and safety effects of retail marijuana establishments and social clubs on the community if not properly regulated,” the moratorium ordinance reads.

The ordinance also cites concerns about the illicit sale and use of marijuana to minors and potential criminal activity associated with cultivation, manufacturing, sale and use of products for non-medicinal purposes.

Biddeford resident Richard Rhames voiced his opposition to new moratorium in light of the Nov. 8 election results, saying he feels the drug should not be the city’s primary public health concern.

“We have a nation that’s been indoctrinated by this idea, spawned in the last century about reefer madness,” Rhames said. “Poverty leads to a lot more social problems and a lot more disease. I don’t see anyone wrestling by the issue of poverty.

“This is kind of hysterical. It’s a solution in search of a problem,” he said. 

The ordinance states the moratorium will give the city’s administration and Planning Board time to study the city’s current code of ordinances to determine the land use and other regulatory implication of retail marijuana establishments. The city also says a moratorium is necessary to prevent an overburdening of public facilities that could result from the establishment of such facilities.

The council ultimately voted 6-3 in favor of enacting a moratorium on retail marijuana establishments, with Councilors Swanton, Bob Mills and Robert Quattrone dissenting.

The ordinance will go to a second reading for final approval at a later date. 

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com.