With a unanimous approval from the DeLand City Commission Jan. 3, medical marijuana dispensaries come one step closer to being able to open up shop within city limits.

“It’s basically a pharmacy with one item,” DeLand City Commissioner Charles Paiva said. “I think it’s completely appropriate.” 

That was the feeling of much of the City Commission Jan. 3 during the first reading for a change to city policies that would eliminate a prohibition on medical marijuana dispensaries. If approved on second reading, dispensaries would be allowed to open anywhere pharmacies are allowed to open in DeLand.

That’s because medical marijuana is regulated by the State of Florida, and it has been ever since a voter-approved constitutional amendment passed in 2016 legalized the use of medical marijuana. In 2017, the DeLand City Commission had the opportunity to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, but, citing concerns about the recentness of the changes to state law and the requirement that, if allowed, dispensaries be allowed wherever pharmacies are allowed, the commission declined it.

But things are different now, Mayor Chris Cloudman said.

“I feel, like the rest of you have said … an overwhelming majority of state voters voted in favor,” he said. “We weren’t beta testers, we’re now able to come in with the knowledge of others …”

Discussions about allowing dispensaries in DeLand began when representatives from Cookies, a cannabis company with a presence in around 20 states, made a proposal to the City Commission last November. While Cookies operates a cultivation facility near the city’s municipal airport, the rules keep Cookies from being able to sell its product in DeLand.

DeLand’s Planning Board was uncertain last month about allowing the dispensaries within city limits — the advisory board voted 2-2 recommending the prohibition be overturned. Some Planning Board members feared that dispensaries could change the city’s culture and lead to a potential uptick in crime. However, the City Commission unanimously approved the measure with little discussion.

Also included in the measure is a change to the rules that clarifies where cannabis cultivation facilities can operate — specifically in the city’s M-1 industrial zoning.

Cookies’ Bob Schliesman was excited following the approval.

“We’re very excited to be able to serve the patients of DeLand!” he said.

With an approval on first reading, the measure will require a second approval at the City Commission’s next meeting, on Jan. 17, to go into effect.

Gray (and green) areas

Ever since Cookies came to the DeLand City Commission requesting a change in the city’s policy toward cannabis dispensaries, several Downtown DeLand businesses have stoked confusion. 

One is Chronic Guru, located at the corner of North Woodland Boulevard and West Rich Avenue. There’s no smokescreen surrounding what it sells — the shop’s large neon cannabis leaf in its window answers that question.

Chronic Guru operates under a loophole in city code and state law: The products it sells are technically hemp and not cannabis. 

A legal explainer on the company’s website explains that the legally distinct chemical compound that gets cannabis users high is not present in their hemp. Instead, Chronic Guru’s products contain THCa, a similar-but-different compound that, according to the company’s website, when heated, produces THC. Since Chronic Guru isn’t selling products that legally fit the description of marijuana as a controlled substance, the business is able to operate and sell cannabis products to customers who do not have a medical marijuana card.

Nearby Chronic Guru is Pumpernickel Pops. Despite the cannabis leaf in its window, the store is legally a “tobacco smoke shop” that sells “hemp-derived products” and “water pipes.” 

“I’m not a dispensary,” manager Will Negri said, who cautioned that his views did not necessarily reflect those of the company or its owner.

Pumpernickel Pops sells products containing chemicals derived from hemp and cannabis that can get users high, he explained, just not Delta-9, the one that is a controlled substance.

“I can still get you high,” Negri said. “You can smoke flower that can get you high.”

The store sells e-cigarettes, gummies, drinks, smokable products and “water pipes” — not bongs, Negri explained, referring to them as “the b-word” because, legally, they can’t be called bongs. 

But the legal gray areas that shops like Pumpernickel Pops operate in can be confusing, he said, and the fact that the store is not a dispensary and does not technically sell marijuana is confusing to people.

He wishes more customers would research the products they sell instead of merely looking for the product that generates the biggest buzz.

These stores’ existence — and their prominent locations in Downtown DeLand — has frustrated some city officials.

Cloudman said that while the city opted to not allow medical marijuana dispensaries in DeLand in 2017, stores many people assume are medical marijuana dispensaries have still opened.

“In that time, just like in times of Prohibition, people find other ways. Now, instead of having a legitimate regulated business, we have at least one, if not more, who are not legitimate and selling product that could be harmful,” Cloudman said. “… I think allowing legitimate business doing what they’re supposed to do, and doing it because they want to do it correctly, will hopefully influence how others operate in this town.”