Ravalli County to consider local option tax on marijuana | Local News

On Tuesday, the commission appeared to back away from a resolution that would have put the issue of whether it was legal to sell marijuana in Ravalli County back on the ballot.

They will meet again Thursday to consider the local option tax ballot measure.

Commissioners said they have heard from constituents that they didn’t understand the financial ramifications for the county when they voted to allow the sale of recreational cannabis in the November election.

Initiative 190 passed 14,345 votes to 13,332 in Ravalli County last November. It allowed established medical marijuana dispensaries to sell recreational marijuana with a 20% tax. All of that tax reverts to the state for a variety of programs.

Commissioner Jeff Burrows said he’s heard from constituents who said they didn’t realize that local government would not be able to access any of the tax windfalls from recreational marijuana sales. In particular, Burrows said Darby officials have told him they don’t want it sold in their community.

Darby is the only community of any size in Ravalli County that doesn’t have a recreational marijuana dispensary.

The county has to bear costs of enforcement, prosecution and incarceration of any illegal activity from recreational marijuana but there was no funding allocated to help pay for that, said Commissioner Greg Chilcott.

No one from the public spoke in favor of the resolution. The commission heard from several people who opposed the idea of putting the issue back on the ballot.

“Asking the voters to overturn the recreational marijuana initiative approved by county voters in November 2020 is undemocratic and un-American,” said former commissioner Carlotta Grandstaff. “When an elected board can overturn the voters’ decision because the board simply dislikes the results of a popular vote, then our very democracy is at risk.”

“Consider the business owners who invested their money, time and effort into opening legal businesses,” she wrote. “What happens to them if the initiative is overturned? They lose their investment, and you look like elected officials who trampled on your constituents’ right to vote.”

Commissioner Chair Dan Huls said he was troubled about the potential impact to small businesses that were already in place selling recreational marijuana should the resolution pass.

Those businesses would be required to close if voters opted to pass the proposed resolution. There are more than a dozen recreational marijuana dispensaries operating in Ravalli County. 

“I see that as a taking,” Huls said. “I think what happened to the elk farmers was completely wrong. It drove them out of business. I certainly wouldn’t want that to happen again. These people have stepped up and tried to start a business, even if I don’t agree with the premise of their business.”

Both Chilcott and Burrows agreed that changing the law midstream and forcing the closure of current dispensaries would be a taking.

Burrows said he would like to see the commission explore placing the optional 3% local option excise tax on marijuana on the June ballot.

Four counties in the state have already imposed the tax.

Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton urged the commission to consider that option.

Closing recreational marijuana dispensaries in the county would not criminalize marijuana, Holton said. The county will still have to address law enforcement issues that might arise. The sheriff said his office has already spent about $4,500 in training for drug detection in DUI cases.

Holton said he would support the local tax to help offset those costs.

If the local tax is approved, 50% would go to the county, 45% to local municipalities and 5% to the state.

The state does not have a breakdown available on how much revenue recreational marijuana sales has produced in Ravalli County.

Rob and Mary McCoy at the Hamilton medical and recreational marijuana dispensary called Natures Palliative on Grantsdale Road said their business has grown in the first two months of legal recreational marijuana sales in the state.

They have four full-time and three part-time employees.

Their shop is located in the middle of a neighborhood. So far, the couple said they have not received any complaints from the neighbors and quite a few compliments from their customers, like the fact their business is off the beaten path.

“I spoke to the neighbors before we opened,” Rob McCoy said. “We are trying to be respectful. We’re not going to fly flags with pot leaves. People who want our product know where to go. We don’t have to be in people’s faces.”

So far, the McCoys said they have served a lot of veterans and people from all walks of life. Among their favorite customers are three women in their 80s. So far, most of their customers have been older and they have been purchasing small amounts.

The couple’s business specializes in selling their plant’s “flowers” that McCoy has spent years learning how to grow. While they haven’t done any advertising, they have drawn customers from other places in the state looking to sample their “artisan” product.

They are working with other local dispensaries to purchase products that they don’t produce. The McCoys expect that trade between local marijuana businesses will continue to grow as the industry matures in Ravalli County.

“It’s nice to be on the ground level of a new industry in Montana,” Andrea McCoy said. “It’s exciting to be part of it.”