Libertarians Support End of Medical Cannabis Prohibition in Boca Raton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2019
CONTACT: Chairman, Karl Dickey
Phone: 202-683-8056 | Email: [email protected]


Boynton Beach, Fla - In 2017, the Libertarian Party of Palm Beach County (LP Palm Beach) advised the City of Boca Raton not to enter into a ban of medical cannabis dispensaries within the city limits (see link). Since that time, the city has missed out on additional revenue and has angered Boca Raton voters who supported the legalization of medical cannabis in Florida.

Now, the City has seen the error of its ways and has a proposal to lift the ban. While the LP Palm Beach feels these dispensaries should be able to open without prohibitions from state law or local ordinances, we look forward to the day Boca Raton residents can choose to buy their medication locally and not be forced to travel outside the city limits to do so.

On February 11, 2020, the City of Boca Raton will conduct its second reading of their proposal which still handicaps any proposed business owner. For instance, the proposed ordinance would require minimum square footage of 5,000 for the business, though there has been discussion by council members to lower that requirement to 2,500 square feet. There is also talk of limiting the number of medical cannabis dispensaries within the city limits. Some of this proposal seems contrary to Florida statute, but we’ll leave that to the lawyers to figure out.

The LP Palm Beach suggests the City of Boca Raton pass an ordinance with the simple language allowing the dispensaries so long as they are compliant with the State of Florida statute. Full stop.

Libertarians believe that it is immoral for the government to dictate which substances a person is permitted to consume, whether it is alcohol, tobacco, herbal remedies, saturated fat, cannabis, etc. These decisions belong to individual people, not the government. Thereby, City leaders need to get out of the way of their constituents who voted to have close access to medical cannabis and abide by state law.
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