Advocates, opponents speak out on Citrus Heights cannabis proposal

By Mike Hazlip—
Citrus Heights residents and marijuana industry supporters showed up at City Hall for a city-sponsored workshop on Wednesday to voice support and opposition to a proposal that would lift a ban on dispensaries within city limits.

Dozens of people filled seats in the council chambers where the April 3 meeting was held. Economic Development and Community Engagement Director Meghan Huber moderated the event, passing a microphone to people wanting to voice their opinion. Comments were limited to one minute each.

Several Citrus Heights residents who work in the cannabis industry provided comments supporting an end to the city ordinance prohibiting marijuana-related businesses.

Trevor Davis, operations manager for The Sanctuary, a Sacramento-based dispensary, said he’s been a Citrus Heights homeowner for more than a decade. The business employs about 100 people at wages Davis said are “substantially more” than what an average fast-food worker earns.

Davis said he respects the opinions of those opposed to cannabis businesses and encouraged concerned residents to visit The Sanctuary and see the business first-hand.

In an interview after the meeting, Davis said cannabis products are already being delivered to Citrus Heights residents and that lifting the ban will allow businesses to be safely regulated. Those regulations will keep cannabis away from minors, Davis said.

“I think just like any parent, which I am one, is you’re worried about kids, about it being out on the street,” Davis said. He also said cannabis is safer in a dispensary — where access can be controlled — than on the black market.

Opponents to lifting the ban voiced concerns over the negative effects on mental and physical health.

Bill Van Duker questioned why neighboring communities have not allowed dispensaries, saying, “If this is such a hot idea, I’m wondering why Folsom and Rancho Cordova and Elk Grove, the City of Roseville, and the City of Rocklin haven’t gone that way.”

Resident Al Fox said his experience working narcotics enforcement led him to oppose establishing cannabis businesses in Citrus Heights.

“I’ve spent my last five years working on the campuses of every school in Citrus Heights,” Fox said. “I have seen the devastation on those campuses to the families who have one or two parents or possibly the kids, and the use of marijuana, and to those families, I see absolutely no redeeming factor for the city of Citrus Heights to have a dispensary.”

Citrus Heights resident and business owner Natalie Price did not give an opinion on the matter, but said she’s seen delivery drivers handing cannabis products to Citrus Heights customers near parks and schools where children are present. Price said regulating cannabis businesses in specific locations would limit children’s exposure.

Her husband, Jeremy Price, said the city is losing revenue as Citrus Heights residents purchase marijuana products elsewhere.

“It’s already here, it’s in our city, it comes into our city,” Jeremy Price said. “But currently, for somebody that needs access to this medicinally, they have to drive outside of our city. We have no taxable income on an extra that comes in because all that revenue is elsewhere.”

Without voicing an opinion for or against cannabis dispensaries, resident David Warren cautioned that taxes on the goods should not drive the price higher than the street value. Warren also advocated for only four locations throughout the city rather than clustering them along the freeway.

Jeannie Bruins, a Citrus Heights resident and former councilwoman, cited information from a booklet titled “The Risks of Marijuana Use,” published by Carmichael-based Americans Against Legalizing Marijuana.

The booklet was provided to each council member, Bruins said. In an interview after the meeting, Bruins said supporters who work in the cannabis industry have a vested interest in opening businesses in Citrus Heights.

“If this goes through, [and] all the communities surrounding us don’t have it… where is the element going to come?” Bruins said. “They’re going to come here. And despite what they say, yes, I know there’s sophisticated operations, there’s also an underbelly of society that’s drawn into it.”

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