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SHILOH — A marijuana salesman visited Village Council Tuesday night to discuss a business venture he is proposing and got a chilly reception. On the agenda was a cannabis cultivation facility where Council and residents got to hear two polar opposite views centering around cannabis.
While still in the preliminary stages, David Smallwood of DAS Builders LLC wants to test the waters in Shiloh to see if village officials are interested in supporting a Level 3 cannabis indoor grow facility. Smallwood said a small investment group was interested in the area but did not disclose the name of the group. He said he has helped build other cannabis facilities in Michigan and that the facility would have security ‘tighter than Fort Knox.’
“Tonight I just wanted to see if there is a potential interest,” Smallwood said. “No company wants to be in an area where people are proactive of trying to push them out.”
The speaker on the agenda following Smallwood said he believes the community does not need the facility due to a drug overdose epidemic ravaging the country. “If I told a fireman at the Shiloh Ox Roast that you need to spray water at a grease fire in order to put it out, they would look at me cross-eyed,” Benjamin Mutti told Shiloh Council. “In the same way, increasing the availability of gateway drugs in an area will not stamp out a drug epidemic, it will only inflame it.”
Mutti said he believes when commercial marijuana facilities are permitted into communities, recruitment and retention of law enforcement will plummet as police morale sours. One of the members of Village Council said she had serious concerns over the proposed cannabis facility and did not want increased crime in her neighborhood. She shared how her home had been burglarized recently and because the Village is on the outer rim of the county, there is usually a delay in response time by Sheriff’s deputies.
Another long-time Shiloh resident from North Walnut Street commented that the Village does not need more drugs on the streets. He said several years ago he threatened a drug dealer near Village Hall in order to get him to leave the area.
“If I told a fireman at the Shiloh Ox Roast that you need to spray water at a grease fire in order to put it out, they would look at me cross-eyed. In the same way, increasing the availability of gateway drugs in an area will not stamp out a drug epidemic, it will only inflame it.”
Benjamin Mutti
A West Main Street resident supports an ordinance banning all commercial cannabis facilities. She commented the area is ‘too conservative’ and would not support a cannabis facility since most of the village is surrounded by Mennonite farms. During his talk, Mutti described how his Mennonite friend in the area has been frequented by drug addicts knocking on his door at night asking him for money. His friend now fears for the safety of his family.
Discussion over revenue the cannabis facility would bring ensued. Smallwood said his marijuana facility would help bring lucrative tax revenue to Shiloh. A resident, seconded by Mayor Paul Currier, offset the claim and compared it to the State Lottery. “When the lottery first came out, we were told those funds would be used to pay for the schools. It was just lip-service giving empty promises.”
According to a media report, Smallwood was scheduled to speak at the previous December 12th council meeting but did not show up. According to the report, Mayor-elect Currier is quoted as saying, “If he (Smallwood) was serious about his idea of marijuana fields, he would have shown up.” Currier went on to say, “I can guarantee you that there is not going to be a fifty or one-hundred acre field of marijuana grown in this area. Shiloh is not about that, I am not about that, and I hope the residents feel the same way.”
While Smallwood said commercial marijuana is safer when regulated by the government, Pastor Russ Smith commented that the black market will always provide cheaper weed to clientele, saying, “The black market does not have to go thru the costly testing process. Dealers are easily under-selling their taxed commercial cannabis competitors.” The pastor shared at the meeting that he knows both sides of the issue since he previously had a drug and alcohol history. He said he has been sober for nineteen years. Pastor Smith previously signed a clergy letter recently given to Bellville Village Council opposing a proposed cannabis dispensary.
In his address, Mutti told Village Council that according to a Colorado study, when marijuana is more readily available, more quantities of alcohol is consumed that can lead to riskier behavior; in 2012, Colorado legalized recreational marijuana. According to Mutti, morality is like art, it consists of drawing the line somewhere. After providing a copy of Ashland’s cannabis prohibition ordinance, he told Council, “Tonight is your chance to pass emergency legislation to prohibit commercial cannabis. This is your opportunity to help secure our culture. If this Village allows commercial cannabis to come into the community, what next will come thru these doors, heroin, or cocaine?”
Mayor Currier said he wants to table the issue until state lawmakers come up with a plan to bring new marijuana restrictions.
The Bottom Line:
The Bible says in Numbers 16, “So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.”
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