By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

According to the July 22 Claremont City Council meeting staff report for an item on commercial cannabis regulations and zoning, “The Claremont City Council first adopted a ban on commercial cannabis businesses in 2006.” The Courier also referenced 2006 as the year the council adopted a ban on commercial cannabis dispensaries in Claremont.

The 2006 “ban” was actually an interim urgency ordinance, ordinance no. 2006-08, which the council passed unanimously that September. It prohibited cannabis businesses from operating in the city for 45 days. The ordinance was renewed twice, on a 5-0 vote in October 2006, and again unanimously in September 2007.

In July 2008, the City Council voted 4-1 — with then Mayor Ellen Taylor opposing — to establish ordinance no. 2008-09, which updated the municipal code to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries the city.

Cannabis codes have been tweaked slightly since that 2008 vote. In 2016, the council adopted ordinances, nos. 2016-02, 2016-09 and 2016-11. Each reaffirmed the city’s prohibition on cannabis businesses, according to Assistant City Manager Jamie Earl.

Ordinance 2016-02 clarified the city’s commercial cannabis prohibition does not “… interfere with individual rights of qualified patients to cultivate, obtain, or use marijuana for medical purposes as provided for by the voters of the State of California under Proposition 215 and Senate Bill 420 of the California Legislature,” Earl wrote in an email.

“Ordinances 2016-09 and 2016-11 were adopted in anticipation of the passage of Proposition 64 and reaffirmed the City’s prohibition on cannabis businesses,” Earl added. “These ordinances also clarified that outdoor personal cultivation was prohibited, while indoor cultivation within private residences would be permitted if allowed under state law. Ordinance 2016-11 included a sunset clause that would have repealed the ordinance on July 1, 2019. However, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 2019-02 to extend the prohibition indefinitely.”

In 2022, Claremont voters passed Measure CT with 61% approval, which allowed the city to impose a tax on marijuana sales and manufacturing in Claremont.