SALEM, Ohio (WKBN) — While some communities have approved the use of recreational marijuana, Salem isn’t ready yet.
Salem City Council voted 7-0 on Tuesday to approve a moratorium for a business to sell recreational marijuana, stating they would like to see it approved at the federal level first. They also don’t allow for medical marijuana.
“Until we got a lot more clarity on how the state was going to handle all the things surrounding the dispensaries,” said Andrew Null who leads the committee as a whole.
Null said at their last meeting, council brought in Police Chief J.T. Panezott to discuss his thoughts.
“There’s a lot of cash involved with it. It’s illegal at the federal level, so what do you do with that cash? It can’t go into a bank, so it’s going to be on-premises, and a lot of times that draws crime,” Null said.
The other concern was how to enforce the laws with it. The moratorium is only temporary. They’re open to the idea, just not right now.
“The initial discussion entertained, what’s the best way to go about this? We considered a ballot initiative. We considered a couple of different options,” Null said.
Council is primarily waiting until it becomes federally legal. Then, they’d open it up to voters.
“Once again, as the legislative body of the city, we have to make sure that the citizens are safe and we’re doing it the proper way, and if we don’t have a real clear path there — we’re just going to put the pause button on for a while until we get that,” Null said.
The moratorium is for one year, but Null said it can be shortened if something changes.
