It is a balmy 50 degrees out right now, or it is wherever the weather app I have records the temperature. a down right heat wave compared to yesterday morning.
Government Study Committee forum tonight at 6:00 P.M. at The West Island Improvement Association building. This is the first public "forum". It is not the first meeting. I raise the point as someone asked how come the committee is just starting.
I suppose the good thing about that being raised is the fact word of the public forum has reached some ears. No sure the forum per se was the draw as the question about the forum was quickly followed by interest in what kind of refreshments.
Whatever brings them in, right?
I am going to hammer the keys on this matter folks. Public involvement and awareness is going to be key. Realizing that, hopefully you will stay on top of it. Whether the eventual recommendations are supported or not, the reasons should not be based on knee jerk reactions at the end of the process.
What else is on tap?
Well as mentioned yesterday, several up coming events to be held in Town.
The wheels for the FY 2015 budget are beginning to slowly squeak.
Medicinal Marijuana will be a topic at some Town Meeting. B of H discussed the state process and potential dispensary at the last meeting. Planning Board has begun the process for a moratorium and will be seeking T.M. approval for the same.
Fairhaven was essentially inline with the rest of the state on the vote on legalizing medical marijuana. If memory serves me, something like 66% of the vote in town was to legalize it for medical purposes (63% state wide).
It is now a prescription drug in Massachusetts. No community can ban the facilities. You can regulate location by zoning. You can impose some limited regulation on the facilities but not to the extent anything will conflict with state law or regulation.
I get the desire for a moratorium.
MMA has a decent page set up with various info and proposed by-laws. I think the Town of Dennis all ready has adopted a bylaw.
Long and the short of it, 66% of the voters in Fairhaven joined 63% of the voters across the state and created the state right to legalized prescription marijuana. The concern is we don't want the landscape to take on the appearance of some other states that have gone that route.
Don't see how you are going to stop that juggernaut in the long run.
Next vote up on it state wide, in about three to five years: why look at at Washington and Colorado.
Dot the i's and cross the t's. Might as well get the local regs. in place. Hoepfully no one forgets the local licensing fees.
Anyway, enough for today.
Be safe.
How many of the 66% of Fairhaven voters want the dispensaries in their neighborhoods? How close can they be located to schools? Is this yet another issue that voters voted for without fully understanding the consequences?
ReplyDeleteMake it easy for all concerned ,let the existing pharmacy vend the drug like all the others .They will be supplied by the growers with the same regulations we have for all the other drug manufacturers an suppliers..Or might this proposal be to easy,or did I forget to include the state an fed take...
ReplyDeleteWhat's this assumption that voters don't know why they are voting for something? Can you really make such a case for an issue that captures THAT many voters?
ReplyDeleteIt was a statewide ballot initiative, so generally what each individual municipality votes is largely irrelevant, since only the statewide total matters. And since it is a statewide ballot initiative, it oughtta be pretty clear to the voter that their vote applies to the entire state.
What's interesting is that on a statewide basis, more people cast a vote on the marijuana question than they did on either of the two other ballot questions. Also, more people voted for legalizing medical marijuana than voted for Granny Warren.
In Fairhaven, more people cast a vote on the marijuana question than for the right to repair, and only slightly fewer votes than the assisted suicide question.
Do you also have the same sentiment that voters didn't "fully understand" the other questions?
What difference does it make? It's only a matter of time before it will be available over the counter.
ReplyDeleteYou make an excellent point.
ReplyDeleteWell, since a high majority approved it, we shouldn't have any problem finding a location for the dispensary (or multiple dispensaries.)