Missoula City Council voted Monday night to ban new dispensary licenses for the next two years and added fines for selling cannabis to a minor.
The council approved the two laws to limit youth marijuana use, which public health experts said has increased in Missoula since voters legalized the drug in 2020.
Councilors voted 7-2, with Daniel Carlino and Sandra Vasecka opposed. Last month, the city approved a 180-day ban on new stores, which took effect on July 8.
More than 50 dispensaries call the Garden City home, while studies presented by the Missoula City-County Health Department said the ideal number should sit around 15.
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Two pediatricians said at the meeting a saturation of pot shops has caused an increase of youth cannabis use. The Center for Disease Control’s Youth Risk Behavior survey reported youth cannabis use in Missoula County increased from 20% in 2019 to 24.5% in 2021
With increased potency of the product, medical experts say they see more hospitalizations and long-term mental effects like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety.
“They are significantly stronger products, which leads to significantly stronger health effects,” said Leah Fitch-Brody, certified prevention specialist with the Missoula health department. “This isn’t the same marijuana that we were seeing a couple decades ago — it is significantly stronger.”
Along with the ban on new dispensary licenses, the city created new municipal fines for distributing marijuana to a minor.
Councilor Gwen Jones, who sponsored the laws, said banning new dispensaries acts as a Band-Aid to the problem, and gives the city time to find a long-term solution to oversaturation of dispensaries using zoning restrictions.
The city is currently working on comprehensive code reform, meaning it will revisit all laws that regulate what people can build within the city in the coming year. That process could be finished as early as fall 2025.
Jones noted that marijuana is legal and the city has no plans to ban it altogether, but she said the industry has grown out of control and needs more local and state restrictions.
“We’ve seen a big impact on folks under the age of 21 in Missoula who are using this product,” Jones said. “They are not supposed to be, it’s supposed to be for adults, but we are seeing a big impact on our youth population.”
Missoula Police Chief Mike Colyer said at the meeting the department has seen a hefty increase in marijuana-related DUIs and has seen an increase of marijuana present in middle and high schools.
He quoted several school resource officers who called the marijuana increase “staggering and embarrassing” and like playing “Russian Roulette.”
“(One officer’s) big concern is the proximity of dispensaries to schools and housing and urged the council to take action on this,” Colyer said.
Councilor Carlino said at a previous meeting he opposed the marijuana restrictions because he said they could hurt local business owners looking to open a shop in the future.
Councilor Vasecka said she is concerned with people getting in trouble for selling to a person between the ages of 18 to 21.
“You can go die for your country, but you can’t drink beer, smoke a cigarette or smoke marijuana,” Vasecka said.
While the council took action to restrict new dispensaries, councilor Mike Nugent said the state government needs to act to address youth cannabis use.
He said the state could regulate potency levels, and allow local governments to create caps on the number of dispensaries allowed in a certain area.
“We don’t have the biggest tools in the tool box, but we will do what we can,” Nugent said.
State lawmakers are considering banning new dispensary licenses through 2027 during the next legislative session in January.
Griffen Smith is the local government reporter for the Missoulian.
