By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
An ordinance that would have prohibited cannabis businesses that could cultivate, produce, process and/or dispense medical marijuana or act as a safety compliance facility for it within the city limits failed narrowly on its second reading Monday with the Glasgow Common Council.
Two weeks ago, with one council member listening via Zoom but technically absent, the vote was 5 in favor of the prohibition and 3 opposed to it on the first reading of the ordinance. The three opposed – Max Marion, Marna Kirkpatrick and Joe Trigg – maintained their positions with this week’s vote.
Councilwoman Chasity Lowery, however, changed her vote from one she’d felt completely comfortable with at the time, and she offered residents the explanation that, although she had done some research prior to the last meeting, she’s now done considerably more.
“In the two weeks since then, I guess you would say democracy was at its best in terms of people in the community reaching out to me on both sides of the issue,” she said. “I continued to visit the Kentucky Medical Cannabis website, looking (for) information. My big drawback two weeks ago was the fact – I think I used the example I was playing a game, and I only knew half the rules – and I didn’t feel comfortable committing the community to that kind of investment.”
She said as she started looking more carefully at the law that enables such places to legally begin doing business in Kentucky, the regulations that would be imposed, and how the language changed over time with revisions.
“Every change they made, they made it a little more difficult for those people coming in,” Lowery said. “They increased the rigor on some of the things – not on everything, but enough that I felt more comfortable with the information that I had.”
She said that, even though she felt her vote shouldn’t be based on personal feelings or experiences, she couldn’t help but think about the two-hour drive she’s made so frequently over the past seven years to get medication for one of her sons that he can’t get at home because a company says he can’t obtain it here.
“As a teacher, I know that the more information you get, your viewpoint can change,” Lowery said.
Marion thanked her for sharing that, and he said it gave him hope, and he’s heard from a lot of people over the past two weeks, too.
Kirkpatrick said Lowery’s words touched her heart, and Lowery said that they have a responsibility, and the process that’s taken place over the past two weeks is how things should work, with people calling and asking questions and that leading to more questions. She said she believed all the council members were willing to have those conversations, and they can happen in a cordial manner, whether or not there’s agreement.
“Absolutely,” Kirkpatrick said.
“That’s our job is to listen and learn,” Lowery said.
“Amen,” Marion said.
“And it’s OK to change your mind,” Lowery said.
Councilman Terry Bunnell reiterated his concerns that all the rules and regulations are not complete, and they don’t know all the impacts. Opting out of allowing the businesses gives them a choice to come back and agree to it later, he said.
Kirkpatrick asked him to elaborate on one of his points about not knowing what all is involved and whether it would put a burden on the city, administrationwise. Nick Hurt, administrator of the city’s business licenses and alcoholic beverage licenses has said these businesses won’t have the regulatory fees attached to them like alcohol sales do, so he would not anticipate having any more work in terms of inspections and such than he would any other business. The state would be in charge of regulating amounts and strengths and such, he said.
Bunnell also reiterated that if the city opts in to allowing the businesses, however, it cannot go back and opt out later.
“Why would we not sit back and let it evolve and then the City of Glasgow would respond to that?” he said.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of sitting back,” Kirkpatrick said.
Bunnell said that if they don’t do it well, the harm created could outweigh the benefits the new law is designed to provide.
Kirkpatrick said it’s her understanding they have time to get those things established.
Although those details don’t have to be in place until Jan. 1, according to discussion at the earlier meeting, potential business owners can only apply for one of the limited number of licenses in July and August, so if the city didn’t opt in by then, they could be out of luck if all the licenses are issued to others.
Marion mentioned tax revenue to the city from such a business, and Bunnell said it would be “miniscule.”
Councilman Freddie Norris said that two weeks ago, he thought they should take a breath and wait a little while to see how things shape up, and he was sticking to that opinion.
Councilman Patrick Gaunce was unofficially attending the last meeting via Zoom, but he could not legally be counted as present because the fact that someone is attending that way has to be announced on the agenda, the mayor said, and he didn’t give them enough notice for that to happen.
Gaunce said Monday that if he had been there, he would have voted with the majority to prohibit the businesses, but he also has done more research, including speaking with medical professionals.
“My personal story is, I almost died using OxyContin, Percocets,” he said.
He said even his late father, Wayne Gaunce, a Baptist deacon, had told him once he wished he could switch to medical marijuana and get off those painkiller pills.
“Today, I’ll be voting to opt in to the system,” he said. “It’s not 100 percent correct, it’s not 100 percent done, but it’s probably never going to be.”
In actuality, Gaunce’s vote and those like his were not votes to actually opt in, but rather only to not opt out.
The council can choose to formally vote to opt in to allowing such businesses, the benefit of which would be to go ahead and firmly let potential businesses owners know the city’s stance as they consider whether to apply for a license and hope they get one in a lottery drawing. If the council does nothing else at this point – if it doesn’t prohibit the businesses – it would be opted in to allowing by default as the calendar year ends.
Trigg said that whether they liked it not the state and the country are leaning in to allowing this, but Kentucky also tends to lean to the conservative right, so it’s “tightening this rule up every day.”
Anyone with the appropriate card allowing them to have the prescription will be able to access it, and he doesn’t think it should be a burden to them to get their medicine, he said.
“We don’t have the rules in place now. We have six months to put those rules into place, and even if we put the rules in place, there’s no guarantee or there’s nothing saying we’re going to get a dispensary or cultivator or processing center,” Trigg said.
According to Trigg, polls show that maybe 72 percent would be in favor of medical marijuana if it went on the election ballot.
“Money shouldn’t matter; revenue shouldn’t be an issue when we’re talking about medicine,” he said.
Lowery added,” I think information is powerful, regardless of what side of the debate you’re at on this.”
She suggested that those wanting more information visit the official state website about medical marijuana – kymedcan.ky.gov – and she listed some of the related topics there and said it even has the contact information for the individuals who are on the state board of directors for medical marijuana.
“Regardless of what side you’re on, if you have questions and want information, sometimes it’s best to go to the experts on it instead of depending on what you hear other places,” Lowery said.
With the clarification that a vote “yes” meant prohibiting the businesses and a “no” vote meant not prohibiting them, Norris, Bunnell, Marlin Witcher and James Neal voted in favor of the prohibition, and Lowery and Gaunce joined Kirkpatrick, Trigg and Marion in casting votes against it.
…..
RELATED CONTENT: The rest of the council’s business from Monday will be covered in two additional reports, the first of which is, “Glasgow council, residents hear about refugee program.”
Comments