{"id":911,"date":"2021-09-04T10:03:58","date_gmt":"2021-09-04T10:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiYGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm5ld3N0aW1lcy5jb20vbmV3cy9hcnRpY2xlL01hcmlqdWFuYS1zLWltcGFjdC1vbi1EYW5idXJ5LWFyZWEtcy1xdWFsaXR5LTE2NDM0NzE3LnBocNIBAA"},"modified":"2021-09-04T10:03:58","modified_gmt":"2021-09-04T10:03:58","slug":"marijuanas-impact-on-danbury-areas-quality-of-life-will-vary-based-on-where-you-live-danbury-news-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=911","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana’s impact on Danbury area’s quality of life will vary based on where you live – Danbury News Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DANBURY – How legal marijuana changes the landscape of the Danbury area depends on local decisions here and in surrounding towns, with a new round of debate planned after Labor Day in Ridgefield, New Milford, Southbury and New Fairfield.<\/p>\n

The result in a year\u2019s time may very well be uneven – with some towns passing outright bans or passing restrictions on where marijuana can be sold or produced, and other towns welcoming production and retail sales of cannabis, and the 3 percent tax municipalities get to keep.<\/p>\n

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While abrupt changes in the cannabis climate from one town to the next might seem antithetical to Connecticut\u2019s statewide effort to legalize marijuana equitably<\/a>, that\u2019s just the way the state wants it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe state is leaving it to the towns to decide how to tackle this and I think the towns respect that decision,\u201d said Kevin Maloney, director of communications and member relations for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities<\/a>, a statewide group. \u201cThe state respects the fact that the towns want to do what\u2019s right by their residents and respect the culture of their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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How unique community culture is in the Danbury area from one town to the next when it comes legal marijuana remains to be seen. But the picture could become clearer over the next five weeks, when Ridgefield and Southbury<\/a> each hold public hearings about temporary bans on all cannabis establishments, and the discussion about a marijuana moratorium that has already begun in New Fairfield and New Milford heats up at public meetings.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI know the times are changing, and some people are saying this is a generational issue,\u201d said Rudy Marconi, Ridgefield\u2019s top elected leader. \u201cBut the young people I\u2019ve talked to say that Ridgefield has lot of destinations, and we don\u2019t need a marijuana outlet for people to come to Ridgefield.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s in contrast to the experience of the top elected leader in New Milford.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I\u2019ve heard, some people say marijuana is a legal substance and we just need to make sure it\u2019s handled in a safe and appropriate manner,\u201d said New Milford Mayor Pete Bass. \u201cOthers say we should make sure it doesn\u2019t fall into the hands of children, and to make it safe for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The public debate in Ridgefield, Southbury, New Fairfield and New Milford follows action earlier this summer in Newtown, which banned cannabis establishments outright<\/a>, and in Danbury, which passed a 12-month ban on marijuana<\/a> business applications, and commissioned a task force<\/a> to advise the mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The idea in Danbury and the four surrounding towns is to give leaders time to solicit community reaction and devise regulations to address those comments, after the July 1 state law<\/a> caught elected officials off guard.<\/p>\n

The short version of the new law, which is being activated in phases, is that adults may have small amounts of marijuana for personal use anywhere in Connecticut, and the state could license retail sales by \u201clate 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marconi said he is not swayed by the lure of Ridgefield keeping 3 percent of a retail marijuana store\u2019s sales, which he called inconsequential.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea what a single store would make in a year, but a million dollars would be a tremendous amount of money,\u201d Marconi said. \u201cThree percent of that is (only) $30,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

The medical marijuana issue in the Danbury area is related but separate. A medicinal marijuana dispensary that was approved in 2013 in Bethel after community objection has outgrown its home and overcome its community resistance. The Compassionate Care Center of Bethel is moving to a two-story building on Danbury\u2019s west side this fall under the new name, The Botanist<\/a>. Although Danbury\u2019s moratorium doesn\u2019t affect that dispensary\u2019s relocation plans, it does bear on the dispensary\u2019s interest in applying for a state hybrid license to also sell retail marijuana.<\/p>\n

Home rules<\/h2>\n

The adult-use marijuana legalization passed this summer not only established measures to right past wrongs<\/a> against traditionally underserved communities committed in the name of the war on drugs, but it preserved home rule rights for cities and towns to regulate their own borders and control their destiny.<\/p>\n