San Jose Mayor Proposes Auctioning Pot Club Licenses On eBay
SAN JOSE (KCBS/AP) -- San Jose may weed out the number of medical marijuana clubs in the city from more than 100 to just 10 by auctioning licenses on eBay, Mayor Chuck Reed said.
Reed suggested the city council use the online auction site as an efficient way of determining how much to charge for dispensary licenses.
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
"These permits, these franchises, whatever you call them, will have a market value. If you put it on eBay, we'll find out what that is and raise some money for the city," he said.
San Jose already imposes a 7 percent marijuana business tax, even without provisions that allow for dispensaries. Reed's proposal on Wednesday took everyone at the city council rules committee meeting by surprise.
"The only thing I could do was laugh. I thought he was joking, but apparently he was serious," said Dave Hodges, founder of the All American Cannabis Club.
Hodges said it would encourage the wrong people to apply for the licenses. Reed cautioned that anyone participating in the auction would still have to meet all the city's permitting requirements.
The committee decided the idea was not fully cooked and voted to put it off until April 12. That meeting is expected to speed the development of pot club regulations that weren't expected to be finished until this summer.
(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
