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by Aiden Whitaker
PENDLETON, Ore. — Pendleton has enacted a moratorium on new marijuana shops within city limits, temporarily blocking anyone who wants to open a shop but has not started the application process.
The move comes as some local business owners and city leaders raise concerns about how many dispensaries the community should have and what market saturation could mean for public health and safety.
Erin Purchase, co-founder and managing member of Kind Leaf, helped open one of the first marijuana shops in Pendleton nearly a decade ago. She is now advocating for more regulations on the number of dispensary retail licenses allowed in the city.
"In order to help create market stability within our own community, to limit the amount of dispensary retail licenses in our city of 17 thousand," Purchase said.
Pendleton already has four existing dispensaries, with two more on the way.
Assistant City Manager Charles Byram said the city plans to study how other cities handle regulation. "We’re going to look at what other communities are doing," Byram said.
Purchase said the moratorium is "a responsible way for a city to regulate a product that involves public health and safety. It involves tax revenue that benefits the city and the state."
City leaders said they are not worried about losses in tax revenue due to lower prices, but they want time to evaluate how market saturation is impacting the community.
Brandon Krenzler, owner of Project Innerbloom, criticized the moratorium and questioned the motivations behind limiting new entrants. "This is a community that voted it in… and I believe it is a disservice to the community when a business owner or anybody can stand to benefit from closing a market down," Krenzler said.
Although the community voted nearly a decade ago to allow marijuana shops to open, the City Council voted 5-1 to enact the moratorium.
Krenzler, who also helped open the Kind Leaf dispensary a decade ago, said he believes the decision sets a troubling example. "I feel it’s setting a dangerous precedent for a city council to limit or enact moratoriums on businesses when requested by competitive businesses because we are now opening the doors to other businesses to have that same ability," he said.
The moratorium is set to expire on June 20. If the city has not taken additional action by then, new shops would be able to begin the application process as before.
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