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With just under three months until the state deadline for “opting out” of cannabis retail sales, Delaware County’s 19 towns and 10 villages are grappling with the decision.
Under the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act, signed into law March 31 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, cannabis retail licenses may be granted in any municipality, unless the governing body has adopted a local law prohibiting the establishment of a retail dispensary on or before Dec. 31.
In June, Delaware County Sheriff Craig DuMond sent a letter to every town and village clerk in the county, urging local lawmakers to “do their due diligence” and adopt a local law by the end of the year prohibiting the operation of “certain cannabis related industries” in their respective communities.
The letter was accompanied by draft “opt-out” legislation for municipalities to personalize and adopt at their discretion.
“The meager financial gains that might be reaped by having a cannabis dispensary or consumption venue in your Town/Village/City will be far outweighed by negative outcomes listed above,” he wrote. “Please take advantage of this fleeting opportunity, and choose to keep your community safe.”
“I’m just giving them their options,” DuMond told The Daily Star. “I think the responsible thing for any elected official to do is do due diligence.”
In his letter, DuMond cited a 2020 study from the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs that found that California’s 2016 legalization of recreational marijuana was associated with an increase in adolescent marijuana use in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019.
Middletown Town Council Member Julia Reischel, who also serves as director of Margaretville Hospital’s Opioid Outreach Program, said DuMond’s presented data was “not a major cause for concern.”
“Yes, more people are using marijuana since it has been legalized in California, and yes, more children are eating marijuana candy and gummies as they become more prevalent,” Reischel said. “But overdosing on marijuana is rare, and fatally overdosing almost never happens.”
Reischel pointed out that DuMond also cited data from a 2012 study on inebriation and traffic stops, which was written before most of the recent wave of states legalizing cannabis “and therefore really isn’t relevant to our situation in New York now.”
Citing the lack of a national standard for THC inebriation — the cannabis equivalent of the 0.08% blood-alcohol content threshold for drunken driving — DuMond said he hopes most municipalities will wait until more guidance is available from the state.
“We already have enough problems with the mind-altering substances we already have in this county,” he said. “I’m the one that has to go to the door to the family of the death of their loved one in an impaired driving incident.”
“A ban on cannabis dispensaries won’t change whether people are inebriated on cannabis — there is already lots of cannabis already consumed in Delaware County, and banning cannabis sales won’t change that,” Reischel said.
Despite support for allowing cannabis retail sales in the town of Walton voiced during a public hearing at its August meeting, the Walton Town Board voted to opt out.
“If the town does not opt out by the deadline, we will lose the option to ever opt out,” Walton Town Supervisor Joe Cetta said, echoing DuMond’s argument. “However, if we do opt out, we have the availability to opt in at any time.”
“Information on those cannabis management regulations isn’t out there, at least not prolifically,” DuMond said. “I sent a follow-up letter stating that (municipalities) can always opt in later, but if they don’t decide before the end-of-year deadline, they can never opt out again.”
Ray Pucci, president of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, urged communities against limiting the sale of a legal substance.
“The standard is a pretty simple one,” Pucci said. “Are we going to outlaw internal combustion engines because some folks don’t like those? How about Twinkies — the ‘gateway junk food?’ Where does it end?”
Pucci contended that “the time has passed” for local elected officials to counter the legalization of cannabis.
“The horse is already out of the stable on that one,” he said. “Banning marijuana in your town isn’t going to make the problem go away. People will just go elsewhere to get what they want.”
“It’s a state issue. It’s not something mayors and town supervisors have any say in,” Pucci continued. “If they have a problem with marijuana sales, they should contact their state legislator, but as elected officials, they have a fiduciary responsibility to these communities. From a municipal point of view, it could be a tremendous moneymaker.”
Estimating that local communities across the state could be in for as much as $25 million in excise taxes from the legal retail sales of cannabis, Pucci said, “I don’t know of any municipality that could turn its nose up at that.”
Noting that Delaware County’s economy relies heavily on agriculture and tourism, Pucci argued that “towns that opt out are handcuffing their ag producers.”
“If you’re allowing farmers to plant, cultivate, harvest and process their products but not sell them, what you’re telling them is, ‘We don’t want you here. We’re really not interested in your economic success,’” Pucci said. “I’m not saying cannabis is the magic crop that’s going to save agriculture, but for some farms, this could be a nice diversification.”
“The obligation of municipalities is to create the framework in which private business can thrive,” he continued. “It doesn’t mean no rules or regulations. Here’s an opportunity that if you disallow it, it’s just going to go somewhere else, and we can’t let that happen. There’s too much money at stake.”
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