Posted on November 16, 2022 View all news
Montcalm Township, north of Greenville, has been entertaining the idea of allowing marijuana grow facilities and sales through dispensaries for over a year. Every meeting, whether a Planning Commission or Board meeting, has been contentious, showing a clear division of attitudes toward allowing pot to be an industry in the township.
A survey process, narrowly passing the Board, involved sending a form for opinions on the pot issue, were mailed in recent tax statements, which were to be returned by September 16th. With the deadline passed, citizens want to know the outcome. However, Township Supervisor, Douglas Crowley, has apparently decided not to release the results until the next open meeting, October 9th.
Comments to Lakeview Area News include questions about security of the forms sent in since “big money” is claimed to be involved in the outcome of the survey. Also, the proposed ordinance give sweeping power of decisions regarding everything marihuana in the township to the Clerk. It’s more than appearance that the clerk wants the issue to be under her control, while “control” appears virtually impossible, as witnessed in other states. Every vote by the Board on the issue has shown the Clerk, Jessica Shearer, is in favor of a cannabis industry within township borders. Still another question asks why it isn’t safer to release the survey information now to avoid even a hint of manipulation, given who on the board and Planning Commission is in favor.
Efforts to bring marihuana/cannabis to Montcalm County is not limited to Montcalm Township. Next Tuesday’s Stanton Council meeting has an agenda item regarding pot. From information received, David Overholt, a county grower, is urging a positive response to request for opening dispensaries. We have also learned how the new city manager may be in favor of, or helping push permission for the industry to openly sell there.
Every state legalizing “recreational” marijuana has seen a dramatic reduction in “medical” sales, and virtually eliminating it. The black market, which lets people buy marijuana without paying taxes, has grown in every “legal” state, as has mafia influence from Mexico, Cuba and China. While questioning growers of intentions when “recreational” pot becomes legal in Michigan, we were told dispensaries under the “medical” heading will become sales sites for pot smokers, and “medical” sales will virtually disappear. There will be no “license” required for “recreational” purchases. Even the state budget reflects a projected $11-million loss in “medical” card purchases, but additional funds for more Michigan State Police for law enforcement are in the 2020 budget.
Another concern heard regarding local decisions about pot sales and use, is the three-minute limit for argument for or against. The question is raised; How can permanent decisions over mind-altering substances not approved by the FDA, be limited to three-minute arguments, when blind studies that take months or years be required of any other “powerful” medicine. Another question is asked frequently; Who would take a medicine approved by a state legislature and not the Food and Drug Administration, which is charged with approval or banning all other substances to be used as medicine?
Citizens of areas considering allowing the most common self-delusional drug to be openly distributed in their neighborhoods must show up in Montcalm Township, Stanton and Crystal Township meetings to let their concerns be heard.
Research on the effects of THC on the brain and body are coming in at never-before rates, and not one is positive or is recommending human consumption.
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