Medical Marijuana Legal In PA, But Zoning Rules May Make It Difficult To Get In Phila.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia city councilman is warning that the city would be unable to host a medical marijuana dispensary unless it gets a waiver from the state.
The state law legalizing medical marijuana places tight restrictions on where it can be sold.
City council held hearings and worked with the Planning Commission on where to place dispensaries so they'd be in non-residential areas, distributed evenly throughout the city, so prices for available locations wouldn't skyrocket.
However, councilman Derek Green says the careful planning collided with the state law on locating dispensaries.
"It would be a thousand feet away from any school or day care. There'd be virtually no locations for dispensaries here in the city."
Green and his colleagues have asked the state health department to grant a waiver. They think a 500 foot buffer around schools would be adequate.
Green stresses the law prohibits smoking, and smokable or edible plant material for being sold, and sales would be restricted to patients with state documentation of serious illness.