BY VOICE STAFF
In a report prepared for Pelham Town Council, the Town's Director of Community Planning and Development, Barbara Wiens, recommends that Pelham welcome retail sales of cannabis.
Citing reasons that cannabis use was legalized by the federal government, Wiens writes, "This is the public interest in legalizing cannabis use and as defined by regulation and which is to take precedence over one’s own morals and beliefs with regards to recreational cannabis retail sales and use."
The Town ran an online opinion poll between December 17 and January 7, soliciting answers to seven cannabis-related questions, the last being, "Do you support or oppose cannabis retail stores in Pelham?" Wiens' report presents the results (rounded here to the nearest whole number): Support, 42%; Oppose, 55%; Unsure, 3%.
These results closely match a Voice poll on the same question that ran the first week of January. In that poll, 40% supported retail sales; 47% said that sales should never be permitted; and 13% said that sales may be permitted but not now. The Town reports "just over" 700 respondents to its poll, while the Voice accepted 181 responses after filtering out non-Niagara respondents.
Wiens' report may be found here.
Pelham Town Council is scheduled to meet this evening, January 14, starting at 7 PM, to consider Wiens' recommendations. The meeting is open to the public.
