By Mayor Jeff Whitaker |
Although in Darke County, with a voter turnout of 53.26% in the November 7, 2023 election, recreational use of marijuana was defeated with 62.11 percent of the voters saying ‘NO’.
In Greenville, 52.88 percent of the voters said ‘NO’.
Although that’s a clear majority, members of Greenville City Council chose to push back on the ordinance presented before them to prohibit dispensaries, cultivators and processors of marijuana for recreational use within the corporation limits of the City of Greenville.
One member stated that the reason for doing so was that it passed statewide, which unfortunately, it did. But who do these people represent? I believe the citizens locally in Greenville and Darke County have already spoken clearly on this issue in the last election, and Ohio Revised Code, Section 3780.25 authorizes a municipality to entirely prohibit it.
How and why do we have drug education and drug awareness programs in our schools, yet allow dispensaries selling cannabis products for recreational use to operate within the city limits and sell it for recreational use?
That’s the question.
We need to be very careful regarding the future of this city, and the type of environment of which we are willing to permit within our community.
Mayor Jeff Whitaker