MAY 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 11
IN THE NEWS
LOCAL LEGALIZED MARIJAUANA SALES DEBATED
BY TIMOTHY BOLGER
A growing number of town and village
leaders on Long Island have declared
plans to opt out of allowing legalized
pot shops and cannabis cafés in their
communities, but there is no consensus
on an islandwide ban.
Babylon Town Supervisor Richard
Schaffer, who also chairs Suffolk’s Town
Supervisors Association and the County
Democratic Committee, said there was
no decision at a recent meeting in which
he called for all 13 town governments
on LI to opt out of legal weed sales. Although
most local leaders contacted by
the Press say they’re studying the issue
and refused to take a public stance for or
against, the number of town supervisors
and village mayors who have expressed
support for banning pot shops has
grown. But the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s
recent announcement that it plans
to open a dispensary in Southampton
this year means that even if neighboring
municipalities prohibit sales, the
cannabis sales will remain legal on the
sovereign tribe’s reservation.
“As the town board debates the question
of opting out of the sale of marijuana, it
needs to consider that opting out will not
prohibit the sale on the reservation, but
it will deprive the town of any sales tax
associated with the sale,” Southampton
Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman told
Dan’s Papers.
LI’s 95 incorporated villages, 13 towns,
and two cities — Glen Cove and Long
Beach — have until Dec. 31 to pass legislation
opting out of allowing dispensaries
from selling weed to adults older
than the age of 21 following passage of a
historic New York State law ending pot
prohibition on March 31. Nassau County
lawmakers have proposed banning
smoking pot on county property.
The Town of Hempstead declared its
board unanimously favors an opt-out.
Most other town leaders took a waitand
see approach, but the supervisors of
Riverhead, Oyster Bay, and Huntington
towns issued statements suggesting
they’re leaning toward a ban.
“Prior to Albany’s legalization, our town
board passed a law to restrict sales to
industrial zones that are at least 1,000
feet away from residential neighborhoods,
schools, playgrounds, houses
of worship and to keep it away from
children,” Oyster Bay Town Supervisor
A man walks out of a Weed World store the day New York State legalized recreational marijuana use on March 31,
2021. (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)
Joseph Saladino said. “Recently legalized
by the state Legislature, the Town is now
reviewing the law to come up with the
safest ways to protect our children and
communities.”
Riverhead Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar
said she’s worried about adolescents
having access to marijuana.
“I have reservations, since often marijuana
is the gateway to drug usage for
adolescents," she said.
And a spokeswoman for Huntington
Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci said
that he “supports an opt-out and he is discussing
the issue with the town board.”
Some, such as the Town of North Hempstead,
are launching a task force to study
the issue.
"The task force will be comprised of residents
and experts in various fields such
as business, health and public safety,"
said North Hempstead Town Supervisor
Judi Bosworth. "The task force will
assist in gathering public input and lend
their expertise to developing a recommendation
that will be presented to the
town board before the state’s opt-out
deadline."
As the Press has reported, the village
mayors of Freeport, Rockville Centre,
Island Park, and Williston Park have all
gone on record as backing a ban. Three
more mayors — leaders of Lindenhurst,
West Hampton Dunes, and Babylon villages
— have since joined in the opt-out
idea.
“It’s not about revenue, it's about health
and safety,” Babylon Village Mayor Mary
Adams told the Press.
The mayor of West Hampton Dunes
conceded that although he opposes
allowing marijuana to be sold, there
really isn’t any commercial availability
for someone to set up shop in the village.
Many villages cited the fact that they are
predominantly residential as a reason
for sitting out of the debate.
“Lawmakers ... should not approach this
decision from the standpoint of whether
or not to allow cannabis into their communities,”
said Paul Armentano, deputy
director of the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML),
an organization that has long lobbied
for legalization. “Cannabis is already in
their communities. The question is: Do
you want these transactions to be open,
transparent, and regulated by state and
local governments or do you want them
to be kept in the shadows and dominated
by criminal entrepreneurs?”
-With Drashti Mehta, Terrell Bush, and
Joseph Gemino
“The question is: Do you want these transactions to
be open, transparent, and regulated?”
said Paul Armentano.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
