Medical marijuana was discussed in Gluckstadt’s February mayor and board of aldermen meeting, at which time they opted to invite public input during the March 8 meeting before making any decision.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill to legalize medical marijuana in the state on Feb. 2. Cities have 90 days to opt in or opt out of allowing medical marijuana in their city – a conversation that was had in Gluckstadt during Feb. 15’s meeting.
“What we decided to do was have an opportunity for public input at our March meeting,” Mayor Walter Morrison said. “We are going to allow people to speak on the topic, and then the board is going to vote after that whether to opt out or opt in on the various issues.”
Morrison said it will be a difficult task to strike a balance between medical marijuana and recreational marijuana with the various factors at hand, including those who’d benefit medically, the city’s young family community, the potential for increased crime and the economic gain.
“I think that no reasonable person would want to deny somebody who truly has a devastating medical condition from receiving the relief that medical marijuana is designed to provide, but I think that the overwhelming majority of citizens who live in Gluckstadt would not want recreational marijuana,” Morrison said. “So, the difficulty is to strike the balance between the two. How do you make sure that medical marijuana doesn’t become recreational marijuana?”
Morrison said, while that is the first thing to consider, the second is that Gluckstadt is a new community, and it is very family oriented.
“We have a lot of young families with a lot of young children, and to what degree would the citizens want to expose their children to medical marijuana dispensaries on every corner,” Morrison proposed.
Morrison said he also believes law enforcement isn’t too keen on the idea of allowing medical marijuana in cities.
“I believe law enforcement thinks that it is going to increase crime and make law enforcement’s job more difficult, and so that is certainly a factor,” Morrison said.
However, the mayor said if all one did is look at the financial issues with medical marijuana, the cities would allow it based on the gain to be had.
“Any city that allows medical marijuana is going to reap tremendous financial gain from sales taxes and other taxes associated with being in the cultivation of processing marijuana,” Morrison said. “From a purely economic standpoint, cities certainly stand to gain.”
Morrison said he thinks balancing all of these issues is going to be difficult, and he doesn’t know what the board will do after hearing public input in March.
“Ultimately the board is going to have to decide what it wants to do and to what degree, if any, does it want marijuana in the City of Gluckstadt,” Morrison said. “I’m interested to see what the public’s input is and how the board will ultimately rule on it.”
The mayor and board of aldermen’s meeting for March is currently set for March 8 at 6 p.m.
