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By MICHELLE LOVE | Staff Writer 

PELHAM – At the Jan. 24 City Council meeting, the Pelham City Council issued a proclamation specifying the city of Pelham’s stance prohibiting medical marijuana dispensary sites within city limits.

The proclamation cites a law passed by Governor Kay Ivey back in May 2021 which states it would be a risk to public health to allow the cultivation of medical marijuana without creating safeguards to prohibit recreational use.

“The City Council of the city of Pelham hereby proclaims the Council supports the Act’s intent to prohibit the operation of dispensaries in municipalities absent an affirmative adoption of an ordinance by a municipality to allow dispensaries, and the Council adopts and affirms the findings of the Legislature in the Act that recreational cannabis poses a danger and risk to public health and safety,” it reads in the proclamation.

The Act states “the state of Alabama shall not permit a dispensary to operate a dispensing site in any municipality…unless the municipality…has authorized the operation of dispensing sites within its boundaries.”

The Act also provides protections for employers regarding any use or suspected use of medical marijuana by employees, and it also provides criminal penalties for individuals who divert medical marijuana in addition to those found in Title 13A of the code of Alabama.

The proclamation continues that the Council supports the protections provided to employers by the Act, and the Council stands firm on having “substantial interest in protecting residents from the dangers of recreational marijuana.”