The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is considering extending a ban on the production and sale of medical marijuana in unincorporated territories of the county.

The ban would be extending the Interim Ordinance No. 2016-0022U, which was enacted on April 12, 2016.

Ordinance No. 2016-0022U temporarily prohibits the cultivation, manufacturing, laboratory testing, and distribution of medical marijuana, until these activities can be fully analyzed and recommendations can be made to the Board for possible adoption.

The moratorium is meant to allow time for a study to be conducted that would allow the Board of Supervisors to look into the effects of incorporating medical marijuana production and dispensaries in unincorporated parts of L.A. county, as well as look into the zoning required if the Board votes to allow medical marijuana.

As stated in the proposal documents: “additional research is necessary to provide an estimate of anticipated application fees and costs to the various County departments to implement new regulations, as well as associated costs to provide effective enforcement.”

During the ban, a study would be prepared focusing on possible impacts that medical marijuana activities, conducted pursuant to the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, or MMRSA, could have on residents and the properties located in all zones in the County unincorporated territory.

According to the proposal documents, the ban would “not result in a loss of revenue generated from permit fees,” as “medical marijuana dispensaries have been banned in the unincorporated areas since 2011.”

The board would also look into doing an Environmental Impact Report to see how much water would be needed to cultivate the marijuana as well as to look into how that would impact current water supplies.

On May 24, 2016, the board had voted to extend the ordinance to June 28, which is the date of the public hearing on the extension.