WHAT: Beavercreek City Council meeting
WHEN: 6 p.m., July 25
WHERE: City Hall, 1368 Research Park Drive, Beavercreek
The city council passed legislation tonight banning medical marijuana in the Beavercreek until January.
City Councilwoman Melissa Litteral was the sole dissenting vote against the six-month moratorium on the drug.
“It’s based on medical need,” she said.
Litteral said she hopes the ban doesn’t force residents to leave the city to get marijuana prescribed by their doctors.
“You can approve something like this and still keep the community safe,” she said.
The city's marijuana moratorium comes more than a month after Gov. John Kasich signed a bill, on June 8, making cannabis legal for medical use.
The bill will go into effect in September making Ohio the 25th state to legalize medical marijuana.
Permits for cultivators, processors and medical marijuana dispensaries will not be issued or processed in Beavercreek for six months.
The moratorium is being considered to give the council and staff time to research and decide whether to limit or ban medical marijuana growth, processing or retail sale of the drug. The city could also use the time to implement alternative regulations related to the medical marijuana locations and operations in the city.
Diana Widmeyer, a Beavercreek resident, told the council she didn’t want the drug in the city.
“I’m wondering does our vote count,” Widmeyer said. “This community voted against marijuana and I think we were right.”
Beavercreek is the most recent example of local governments who are considering banning the drug. Last week, Liberty Twp. trustees met with State Sen. Bill Coley, R-West Chester Twp. to discuss placing a moratorium on medical marijuana businesses while state agencies work on rules for the new law.
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