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ONTARIO — Following the legalization of marijuana in December, statewide cases of children exposed to THC-laced edibles is spiking; this despite the law forbidding children access to these products. This issue came up Wednesday night before City Council when Council President Eddie Gallo read aloud a clergy letter he received one day prior. In the correspondence, the Ontario clergy did not candy-coat their opposition to marijuana.
“As of October 10th of this year, there have been nearly six hundred accidental exposures of marijuana to children in Ohio twelve years old and under,” says Bishop Sylvester Ginn, one of the clergy cosigners of the letter. “These accidental exposures have gone sky high, with three-fourths of those cases involving children under the age of five. As faith leaders, we find it detestable when people with the power to minimize this evil (marijuana), dismiss this toxic poisoning and corruption of our youth,” Ginn said. Earlier this summer nearby Mansfield City Council voted against a moratorium.
In the letter, eight Ontario clergymen urged the City Council to “VOTE YES” to the moratorium prohibiting commercial cannabis. Historically the faith community has gone on record opposing the legalization of marijuana. Leading clergy have repeatedly warned about the dangers of increasing the availability of marijuana to vulnerable addicts and young children. Of particular note, the clergy consider Ontario a prominent jurisdiction since it is considered the “Commerce Capital” of North Central Ohio.
After doing a third reading, Ontario City Council voted to pass the ordinance “imposing a moratorium indefinitely on the acceptance, consideration, and/or granting of any applications for local licensing, approval, and/or any zoning, occupancy, or other permits relating to cultivators, processors, or retail dispensaries of marijuana within the City of Ontario, and declaring an emergency.”
“These accidental exposures have gone sky high, with three-fourths of those cases involving children under the age of five. As faith leaders, we find it detestable when people with the power to minimize this evil (marijuana), dismiss the toxic poisoning and corruption of our youth.”
Bishop Sylvester Ginn
In the letter, the faith leaders brought up an incident in March 2017 when four Ontario students were suspended and three faced expulsions for their involvement in the distribution of cannabis cookies. “Allowing the Marijuana Industry into our community will increase accessibility to this harmful substance, and increase juvenile delinquency,” the clergy said in their letter.
Ontario Schools Superintendent Keith Strickler and School Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator Cathleen Johnson also sent letters to City Council supporting the moratorium. “I am deeply concerned about the potential negative impacts these dispensaries may have on our community, and more importantly on our students,” Johnson wrote. The School Boards of both Clear Fork Valley and Mansfield Christian have previously both publicly called for the prohibition of commercial cannabis.
According to some professionals, the increase in child exposures to marijuana is no accident. The Medical Director at the Cincinnati Drug and Poison Information Center says the increase in infant exposures to THC edibles coincide with the legalizations of both medical and recreational marijuana. This past Spring the Director of Richland County Children Services stated that based on local data, she believes marijuana legalization will result in the increase in parent drug abuse investigations. Veterinarians are also seeing an alarming trend of pet exposures to marijuana.
At the October 16th council meeting, Pastor Mark Lehman, an Ontario resident, encouraged Ontario City Council to be great leaders and not limited representatives. “Without a doubt, a brothel and casino in Marshall Field would fill the city coffers, but it would not be in the best interests of the people,” Lehman said. “Giving the people what they want is not good leadership. The more salient question is, what would a great leader do? A great leader would do what is morally right for the citizens, and that would be supporting this moratorium on marijuana.”
Ontario now joins Shelby and Lexington prohibiting commercial marijuana inside Richland County. Thirteen out of eighteen townships in Richland also prohibit commercial marijuana. The Village of Bellville has a moratorium that expires in January 9th, 2025.
Local Ontario clergy cosigners of the letter included: Les Vnasdale, Joe Smith, Jack Williams, Steve Burkhalter, Sylvester Ginn, William Hallbrook, Ken Ginter, and Diego Sandino.
The Bottom Line:
The Bible says in Matthew 18, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”
View video from WLWT in Cincinnati of an 8 year-old child who consumed THC gummies on a school bus and became unresponsive. (4 min.)
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