As a March 1 deadline approaches for cities across the state to implement regulations on the cultivation and sale of medical marijuana, North County cities are just saying “no.”

Three bills passed in the state Legislature in 2015 require businesses that deal with medical marijuana to be dual-licensed – approved by the state, and the city in which they operate. North County cities already prohibit commercial medical marijuana through permissive zoning ordinances, which ban land uses not explicitly allowed by a city’s code. But the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act left them scrambling to clear up any haze surrounding their stances.

Recently, San Marcos, Vista, Solana Beach and Encinitas approved ordinances to clarify or reinforce their existing ordinances. Carlsbad and Del Mar both plan to put forward ordinances at an undetermined date.

One important reason for these updated ordinances is to also ban the delivery of medical marijuana. The new state laws say permissive zoning is not enough to stop state-licensed delivery services. [Read more at Voice of San Diego]