An attempt to bring a medical marijuana cultivation facility to Jefferson Township was met with a most hostile crowd on June 12.
The township trustees held a special meeting at the Russellville Fire Station that was attended by approximately 100 residents.
Local resident Russell Layne was trying to get the trustees to approve the facility quickly because an application deadline was approaching.
The trustees sought the advice of Brown County Prosecutor Zac Corbin, who attended the meeting.
Corbin addressed both the trustees and the crowd, telling them, “You have the authority (by state law) to limit, by resolution, the cultivation, processing, dispensing of medical marijuana.  You can limit it as you see fit or you can outright prohibit it.”
The trustees held a special meeting on Friday, June 16 and did just that, voting 3-0 to prohibit the facility.
At the public meeting on June 12, Corbin also explained his professional view of easier access to marijuana by the public.
“When we sit in the courtroom and we see these folks who are addicted to heroin being sentenced, Judge (Scott) Gusweiler always asks them how they got started on drugs.  Without fail, nearly every single time, they will say that when they were eleven or twelve years old, they started with marijuana.  It’s a fact.”
Local resident Jim Potts came out strongly against the idea, talking about the effect that legalized marijuana has had on the state of Colorado.
“It’s a disaster.  Go to Boulder, Colorado and look at the streets.  It’s not going to happen here.  You men are making a mistake, because it’s a lie,” Potts said.
“I’m 100 percent against it and I feel that the biggest part of the people here are against it.  (loud applause)  Out, out, out out!  We don’t want it here.  We don’t want it in Ohio, we don’t want in the United States.”
Layne said that the potential cultivation site was located at 7368 Gooselick Road.
After the June 12 meeting and prior to the vote of the trustees, he said that it appeared the residents were clearly against the idea.
“I don’t believe the community is open to it in all honesty.  That was one of the reasons I was hesitant to try to bring it here in the first place.  I’ve lived here over a decade,” Layne said.
“We will continue to look for another site.  We have a couple of other sites in mind.  If the township doesn’t give us approval, that will obviously eliminate the property as a possibility.”
Township Trustee Gary Pickerell said he felt that the trustees were being somewhat rushed by the process.
“We were approached less than one week ago to sign this application.  They told us we need to sign in within a week,” Pickerell said.
“Medical marijuana is coming to Ohio.  But the citizens of this township do not want it here, especially in a residential area.  I’m against it and I think that most of the voters are too.”