A. It is the purpose of this chapter to promote the health, safety, morals, general welfare and enjoyment of private property of the residents within the city by restricting the public use and consumption of marijuana; prohibiting, to the maximum extent permitted under the state law, the commercial cultivation, distribution, transportation, storage, manufacturing, processing, and sale of marijuana within the City of Visalia; and by regulating the individual cultivation of marijuana. This chapter is intended to prohibit these activities to the maximum extent possible by a local agency as authorized under the state law, specifically the Compassionate Use Act, Proposition 215, passed in 1996, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, Proposition 64, passed in 2016, and the Medicinal Cannabis Patients' Right of Access Act, Senate Bill 1186, passed in 2022.
B. The City Council finds that the regulation established by this Chapter 8.64 is necessary in order to avoid adverse effects that would occur in the absence of any local regulations due to the uncertainty caused by the fact that state law expressly permits activity that is prohibited under federal law. However, in enacting this ordinance, the City Council does not intend to create new or separate permissive authority for the use, cultivation or consumption of any substance that is prohibited by federal law. Accordingly, in the event state law defining medical marijuana and making its possession, cultivation and use permitted under state criminal laws is repealed, or in the event federal law is determined to preempt state law on this issue, the City Council intends Chapter 8.64 to also be repealed to correspond to state law, or to be preempted by action of federal law, as the case may be. (Ord. 2023-13 § 3 (part), 2023: Ord. 2017-11 § 2 (part), 2017: Ord. 2011-10 § 4, 2011; Ord. 2005-19 § 2 (part), 2005)