By ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON – The village board has approved a resolution voicing support for the county opting in to the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) being considered by the state legislature.

The vote on the measure was split at the village board meeting Monday, June 17, with Mayor Mike Dalton and Trustee Beth Bullock Larrabee voting no, and Trustees Sean O’Brien, Carol Pynchon and Klaus Proemm voting in favor.

O’Brien initially proposed the resolution at a joint meeting of the town and village boards on June 10.

MRTA legalizes and regulates the production, distribution, and use of marijuana, much like alcohol and tobacco products are regulated.

Supporters of MRTA believe it will fuel a multimillion dollar agriculture industry and support small and local marijuana businesses. Each county within the state can opt in to the law which would allow production and sale of marijuana within its borders.

Those in favor of the law believe the state will decriminalize marijuana production and sale inevitably and that not opting into MRTA will prevent St. Lawrence County from collecting sales tax and block local farmers from enhancing the local economy by having the opportunity to grow marijuana here. Meanwhile other counties which opt in will reap the economic benefits of the law, backers say.

“Intelligent people of high principle and good intention can disagree on this issue, but I believe we can best meet the challenges and opportunities of legal adult use cannabis in New York State by supporting its cultivation in the North Country,” said O’Brien after the meeting.

“It seems, with the support of the NYS Health Department, the Governor, the NY State Farm Bureau, and most surrounding states and provinces, it makes sense to take this stand and to encourage our county and state reps to support legally regulated cultivation and sale of cannabis. It will be an economic opportunity for local farmers, the county and the state, and a plus for social justice and public health,” said Village Trustee Klaus Proemm Tuesday, June 18.

The two-page resolution presented by O’Brien at the meeting includes multiple statistics on marijuana usage in the state. The initial resolution, which was somewhat brief, was tabled at the earlier town and village meeting, with officials asking for more marijuana educational points to be included.

The resolution cites the following:

• 63% of New Yorkers support the legalization of cannabis for adult use

• Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, and the District of Columbia have voted to legalize cannabis for adult use

• the Province of Ontario on the northern border of St. Lawrence County has voted to legalize cannabis for adult use

• State University of New York College of Technology at Canton has created a curriculum in cannabis business education to support the new business

• New York State Farm Bureau voted to support legal adult-use cannabis on June 10, 2019, saying that they recognize the potential for farmers in New York to assume a leadership role in the local cultivation of the plant.

The resolution points out that cannabis can have negative consequences as well, but “support the passage of the MRTA so that these negative consequences can be remediated out in the open in an environment where criminal penalties are not a factor for those seeking assistance.”

Legally regulated cultivation and sale of cannabis in St. Lawrence County is specifically supported in the resolution as well.

Village Mayor Mike Dalton said Tuesday, June 18 that he had received a study from the New York State Sheriffs' Association and the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police. He had voted against the measure because he felt he wanted to research the information further before making a decision on the issue.

The study from the organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), a non-profit organization based in Virginia which is opposed to legalized marijuana but favors decriminalization, is a fiscal impact analysis of marijuana legalization in New York on law enforcement and emergency services.

SAM says the study indicates higher costs to state and local law enforcement and EMS groups if marijuana is legalized. SAM says the study estimates between $190.3 to $235.2 million in upfront costs to taxpayers and comparable annual costs. The group believes legalization would require additional drug policing with trained drug recognition experts, testing equipment and dogs at significant expense.

They also anticipate much higher instances of accidents caused by impaired driving by marijuana users, requiring more expense in terms of EMS response and hospitalizations.

More information on SAM can be found online at http://www.sam-ny.org/ and https://learnaboutsam.org/.

Dalton said he circulated the SAM study to the other board members and said he thought there was to be more discussion on the issue at the meeting.

“Apparently, they thought there was some urgency with moving this forward and that’s what they did,” the mayor said. “We (Dalton and Larrabee) just didn’t want to rush it and resolve some of the things about where this was headed.”

“There is no ill will over the whole thing,” Dalton said. “But I’m not confident that it’s going to pass the (state) legislature.”

The state will have to pass MRTA before the current legislature session concludes, expected on Wednesday, or the legalization issue will be bumped to the next session which begins in January.