Decatur City Council members approved a medical marijuana ordinance in a 4-1 vote Tuesday night.
Council President Jacob Ladner was the only member to vote against the ordinance, which allows dispensaries within city limits under certain restrictions.
Mayor Tab Bowling said he supports the council's decision, as did many of the city's residents.
"I refuse to allow my disease to define me, and I will seek out medical marijuana," Decatur resident Andrea Hoffmeier said. "So will others in Decatur."
Hoffmeier said she has debilitating neuropathic pain — pain, she said, that could be alleviated with medical marijuana.
Tuesday's approval of medical marijuana dispensaries in city limits is welcome news to Hoffmeier and her husband, Rob Wilson.
"This is about providing Decatur citizens access to a clinically proven solutions to several debilitating health issues in a highly regulated and growing industry," Wilson said.
The council now has seven days to send a copy of the approved ordinance to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission. You can find the ordinance .
"With the clinical stuff and the medical research that supports it, I am going to support this," City Councilmember Carlton McMasters said.
Ladner was the only member with some concerns over the idea, saying it's potentially the first step to recreational marijuana in the future.
"Very few people who have chronic pain called me. Very few," Ladner said. "No doctors called me. I called them. I got a lot of calls from growers and a lot of people who lobby for growers. That's who called me. It was nothing about medical. It was about how all of those groups could make more money."
The ordinance was initially set for a vote last month, but the vote was rescheduled for Tuesday after the ordinance was amended. Restrictions now include being at least 500 feet away from certain residential areas and at least 1,000 feet away from day cares, churches and schools.
"We have narrowed the playing field so small that it's going to be difficult to find a place to provide that opportunity for people here who need it," City Council Member Billy Jackson said.
Potential growers and sellers still have to get a license from the state. Dec. 30 is the deadline, but very few licenses will be awarded. There will be no more than 37 dispensaries throughout the state.
