Stirling-Rawdon residents show support for retail marijuana
About 40 people attended a public meeting Tuesday evening at the Stirling-Rawdon municipal building about whether retail sales of marijuana should be allowed in the community. When asked by council representatives how many were in favour of such sales, many people raised their hands. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News
STIRLING – Most of the residents who attended a public meeting here on whether marijuana sales should be allowed in Stirling-Rawdon were more than just supportive – with no obvious exceptions, they were all-in for the idea.
“The feeling I got … was the support is there to go ahead with a retail location,” Stirling-Rawdon Mayor Bob Mullin said after Tuesday’s public meeting. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News
“The turnout was excellent and the feeling that I got from the room was the support is there to go ahead with a retail location within our village,” Mayor Bob Mullin told QNet News at the end of the meeting.
Mullin and other council representatives led the session. After hearing what residents had to say, he and the other councillors indicated they will vote in favour of applying for a provincial permit to allow retail marijuana. The vote will take place at a special meeting expected in the next week or so, Mullin said.
Because pot has only recently become legal, there are still concerns, Mullin said, noting that the drug affects different people in different ways. One issue is policing drivers who use pot, he said.
About 40 people gathered in the council chamber for the meeting.
MariJane Baker (left) and Melanie Wilhelm, who spoke in favour of retail pot in Stirling, both work in the cannabis industry. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News
“The cannabis business is booming. It’s where it’s at right now,” said Melanie Wilhelm, a Stirling native who is a journalist for High Canada magazine, which covers marijuana-related issues. “I’m looking forward to what Stirling can do within the cannabis industry.”
Offering retail marijuana could help the municipality flourish from a business standpoint, Wilhelm said.
And being pro-cannabis could offer the community a lot, she said.
MariJane Baker, another member of the public who attended, said, “It really boils down to education, and that’s why municipalities really need to opt in” to retail sales of pot.
If retail sales are regulated properly, they will eliminate other options for cannabis users to purchase the product, she said: “If Stirling and other municipalities opt in, it could exclude from the grey market.”
Baker is a co-host for The 420 Radio Show, a cannabis-themed podcast. She also works in the cannabis industry as a sales representative at Advanced Nutrients, a company that sells nutrients for growing pot plants.
She said she came to the public meeting with her friend Wilhelm to show her support and to offer any information she could on cannabis and its benefits. She’s originally from Toronto but now lives 20 minutes south of Stirling, she said.
If council approves making an application to the province for retail pot sales, it doesn’t guarantee Stirling-Rawdon will get one, at least right away. Ontario is offering no more than 25 retail licences as of April 1, and locations will be selected through a lottery system.
The deadline for municipalities to decide on whether to allow marijuana retail stores is Jan. 22.
Meanwhile, Prince Edward County council will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. to vote on whether to allow retail marijuana options. The meeting will be in the Rotary Room of the Prince Edward Community Centre in Picton.
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