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Council rejecting medical marijuana

SALEM

Area residents thinking they might get to buy medical marijuana in Salem may need to shop elsewhere after city council took a step to prohibit dispensing, along with cultivating and processing.

The agenda included two ordinances related to medical marijuana that had been tabled at the last meeting: one to prohibit growing and processing and one to allow a retail dispensary as a conditional use in a C-2 General Commercial District, but limit the number of dispensaries to two.

Councilman Brian Whitehill moved for an amendment to add dispensaries to the list of facilities to prohibit, seconded by Councilman Andrew Null. The amendment passed in a 4-3 vote, with support from Whitehill, Null, Councilman Roy Paparodis and Councilwoman Christine Mancuso. Councilmen Geoff Goll and Clyde Brown and Councilwoman Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey voted against the amendment.

The proposal to ban all three types of medical marijuana facilities will need two more readings and a favorable vote to become law.

The revision of the first ordinance, which now conflicts with the proposed ordinance to allow dispensaries, resulted in Whitehill asking to table it. Null again provided the second and the vote was once again 4-3, with Goll, Brown and Dickey

against tabling the proposal.

Goll said he’s supportive of those folks who are ill and can use the medicine available to them. Unfortunately, he said, those people in Salem will have to drive somewhere else for relief. He also pointed to arguments made in a couple of recent columns he read, both relating to the medical benefits of medical marijuana.

“As former director of oncology at Salem hospital, I can’t in good conscience force the public to drive out of town to get medicine they need,” Dickey said, adding that it’s less harmful than some of the medicines they’re taking now.

Whitehill indicated at the last meeting that an amendment to also prohibit retail dispensaries was a possibility. He followed through and said the tipping point for him was when he researched the issue and talked to people about the impact other communities had experienced in states where medical marijuana was permitted and dispensaries existed.

“For me, I have a natural skepticism about government functioning efficiently. I want to see how they regulate the program,” he said.

If the program was regulated more like a pharmacy, he said he would be “more accepting of its potential.”

“I prefer to take a wait and see approach,” he said.

When asked if the ordinance allowing for dispensaries would ever come up again, once the other legislation is decided, Whitehill said “doubtful.”

Council can’t pass two ordinances conflicting with each other. He also explained that sometimes he will vote to pass something out of committee so it can get a a full vetting before council. In this case, the two original ordinances came out of the Committee of the Whole, which he chairs and which includes all seven council members.

In a related matter, city Law Director Brooke Zellers said he researched a legal opinion on whether the city has the ability to create its own laws after a question came up at the last meeting related to whether the city could take action on medical marijuana legislation since Perry Township had already voted to prohibit medical marijuana dispensing, growing and processing. Goll had pointed out that the city of Salem is part of the township and asked if the township action made any action by the city moot. Zellers pointed to home rule and the powers granted by the state constitution. He said it’s clear that the city is sovereign.

What he didn’t mention was the fact that when Perry Township Trustees approved the resolution against all three types of marijuana facilities, they approved it for the unincorporated area of the township, which does not include Salem.

In other business, council approved an ordinance to increase the maximum square footage for accessory buildings from 1,500 square feet to 2,500 square feet, dependent on the size of the lot.

The next city council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. July 5, which is a Wednesday. The meeting was moved since the original date fell on July 4.

mgreier@salemnews.net

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