The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors voted to ban commercial marijuana cultivation Wednesday, signaling the end of a program that permitted hundreds of growers and raised more than $10 million for the county budget.
“We had to go through the process,” said District 4 Supervisor Dennis Mills, who supported a ban throughout. “When it was done, it made most sense to the board.”
The agreement concluded a marathon discussion following meetings late last year to consider a strict regulatory program. In the end, Gary Tofanelli, District 1, attempted to pass the regulatory plan, but it found no support.
The ban was then proposed by Tofanelli before he, Mills and District 5 Supervisor Clyde Clapp voted in the affirmative. Supervisors Jack Garamendi, District 2, and Michael Oliveira, District 3, opposed.
The ban signals the beginning of the end for a cannabis program that permitted more than 200, with others still pending, collected more than $3 million in fees and generated upward of $10 million in taxes that were used by the county in this year’s budget.
