ENGLEWOOD — City council on Aug. 27 adopted the first reading of an ordinance that would limit the number of adult use cannabis operators within the Englewood city limits to no more than two cannabis dispensaries.
Council held a work session to discuss this issue prior to the ordinance being brought before council.
Several members of council voiced concerns about having cannabis dispensaries operating in the city.
“I am against having dispensaries at all,” said Council Member Courtney Rietman. She said she wanted to see where the city’s strategic plan goes to solicit the types of businesses residents would like to have.
“I think that a dispensary caters to a specific audience instead of benefitting the community as a whole,” Rietman said. “I question if this would deter young families from moving in, especially since one of the goals of our strategic plan is to create a place that is appealing to young families.”
She also pointed out that neighboring cities like Clayton and Vandalia among others have put moratoriums in place and that Englewood would be the only area city that would be allowing a dispensary to open.
She questioned whether such a facility had the potential to increase crime outside the dispensary like robberies or driving under the influence violations, as well as traffic issues entering the location and other safety issues such as car accidents that would place a hardship on the police department.
Rietman also pointed out there is no field test available to police to determine whether a motorist was driving under the influence of marijuana.
“I’m concerned that this promotes drug use, especially towards our kids and I question the example it sets for our youth,” Rietman stated.
She said her research about other states with dispensaries revealed these businesses are not very profitable within the first year of being in operation.
“So, would this be another business that opens and then closes here?” she asked. She pointed out there is a dispensary in operation in Piqua and possibly one on Needmore Road, so if people were looking for that they would have other places not that far away to go to for cannabis.
Councilman Brad Daugherty, a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputy, said that there are field tests law enforcement officers could use to determine if a motorist was under the influence of marijuana, in particular the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. The officer can examine a driver’s eyes which will bounce when they are told to focus on a pen as it is moved from side to side in front of their field of vision.
“That is one way that they could tell. They could also obtain a blood or urine sample if someone is involved in a serious injury crash if they suspect they are under the influence and send those samples to a lab to get the results,” Daugherty said.
“For me, I have been a deputy sheriff for 24 years, I personally don’t like marijuana. I don’t like the smell of it. I’ve never used it in my life,” Daugherty said. “However, in the last 24 years it’s pretty much been decriminalized. We weren’t arresting for it unless you are trafficking it or having bales of marijuana at your home.”
Daugherty also pointed out that in November 57 percent of Ohioans and 55 percent of Englewood residents voted yes to allow the recreational use and sale of marijuana.
“Based upon how these places are going to be operated I don’t see an increase in crime occurring,” Daugherty said. “We unfortunately have impaired drivers every day, whether they are getting their weed here at a dispensary or getting it in Dayton on the streets or in Englewood on the streets.”
Daugherty noted that the voters have spoken.
“Am I going to go to a dispensary? No. But at the end of the day I don’t see it as being any different than a liquor store,” Daugherty stated. “I’m sure that back in 1933 when they repealed prohibition councils were probably dealing with the same issues that we are dealing with now.”
Councilman Steve Henne visited a cannabis dispensary in Piqua, operated by the same company that wants to open a location in Englewood.
“I went and checked it out. It is a good looking store,” Henne said. “It is clean and well-kept. You walk in and there is a vestibule where you sign in and show your ID and then they buzz you into the store room where everything is kept in a vault and processed through a locked window. You then leave through a second exit. It was nicer than I expected.”
Mayor Cathy McGrail stated that she is against having a dispensary as well for personal reasons. She said she wanted the legislation to be handled in three readings because she hasn’t had the chance to discuss the issue with too many citizens.
She also noted that only a small percentage of registered voters participated in the November election.
“I spoke to Dr. Weldy at the Miami Valley Career Technology Center, which would only be about a mile away from where the dispensary would be located and he is not in favor of something like this being so close to the CTC, because kids could drive up Hoke Road grab some and come back to class,” McGrail said.
Daugherty pointed out that you must be 21 years of age to enter a dispensary so no high school aged students would be permitted to enter the facility. McGrail said she was just sharing Weldy’s concerns.
“Englewood has 13,000 residents, which includes children, but we had almost 6,000 people vote in November so that is probably a good percentage of our population minus everybody under the age of 18 – so I’m not sure how many registered voters we have. I tried to get that information today but I am still waiting for the board of elections to provide that,” Daugherty said.
“I prefer three readings as well,” he added.
McGrail said she would like to have more public input about the issue. Rietman said that about 70 communities in Ohio and most local cities have placed a moratorium on dispensaries and asked why it didn’t bother anyone else on council that they are saying it’s fine to have a dispensary instead of placing the matter on hold.
Daugherty said he felt moratoriums were a “knee jerk” reaction by these communities because they are afraid of what it might bring.
“I have worked around the (medical marijuana) one in Harrison Township for the last four or five years and there are never any issues there,” Daugherty stated. “It’s right by two low income apartment complexes where if there was going to be robberies… I mean there were robberies when it was a Chinese restaurant. There isn’t any robberies now because of the security in place that the restaurant did not have.
“I think a lot of these communities that are doing the moratorium are doing it just because they don’t know. They are afraid of the unknown,” Daugherty noted.
Councilman Andrew Gough compared it to being similar to when fireworks became legalized.
“A lot of cities had moratoriums for fireworks yet their police departments don’t enforce it,” Gough said.
Councilman Fred Huelsman pointed out that dispensaries are highly regulated, unlike vape shops, some of which sell vape pens with THC, which is the active ingredient in marijuana that creates a high.
Huelsman also did research on websites that had information about whether marijuana was a gateway drug.
“There is more of a problem with kids getting alcohol,” Huelsman said. “So, with the CTC, kids can run right up the street to Shell and get beer all day long. They can get pot where ever they want. You can go downtown and get it or even right in school. I know officers that work as resource officers in schools and they catch kids with drugs all the time. Tobacco is a big problem – smoking cigarettes – that is a huge problem with youth.
“So, like Brad said, this is probably a knee jerk reaction because dispensaries are more regulated and they kind of watch to make sure no one goes outside and starts burning it out in the parking lot and things like that, whereas I can go to the drive thru and pull right out of the driveway and I can pop open my beer right then, so you can’t do that at the pot shops,” Huelsman said.
Rietman questioned whether Englewood wanted to have the reputation of being the first community in the area to have a cannabis dispensary. The response was that some community would have to be the first one.
“Right now, the way we are looking at it, we aren’t going to change our views on this issue,” Gough said. “I have worked for the court system for 25 years. I don’t see a problem with how it is going to impact this community.”
Reach Ron Nunnari at (937) 684-9124 or email [email protected].
