SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — The city of Altamonte Springs is expected to repeal new regulations meant to make it tougher for medical marijuana dispensaries to setup shop.
The ordinance banned words like pot, weed, grass or ganja from business names. It banned 27 words, including the term medical marijuana itself.
“We tried to consider how our community could be impacted by signs that have certain types of wording on them, certainly misleading words, to think that medical marijuana, which is illegal in Florida, was available,” Altamonte Springs City Manager Frank Martz said.
Martz now plans to meet with city leaders to repeal a portion of the ordinance that allows what words marijuana businesses can use to advertise.
“We may have gone too far and we may have stepped over some First Amendment issues,” Martz said. “So what we are going to do is revise our ordinance. It is going to remain intact, the only thing that will be removed is the prohibition against the use of certain words.”
Although no businesses use any of the 27 words currently and there are no proposed dispensaries in Altamonte Springs, but there are already growers in the state who have been granted permits.
“Eventually at some point the state is going to license them and they are going to operate where they operate,” Martz said.
WFTV
