A Word To The Wise – Weed the people…..

Members of Marysville City Council must be high.

Council is pushing forward with a plan to outlaw marijuana dispensaries in the city, a move that makes total sense if you live the 1930s.

The winds of weed are changing and city council seems intent on clutching its pearls and clinging to an opinion about cannabis that is eroding in society. Members are set on establishing themselves as the modern Moral Majority, despite being in the voting minority.

Across Ohio, State Issue 2, which sought to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana, passed with 57% of the vote in 2023. Big deal. But statewide votes on issues, where Democrat leaning metro areas do the heavy lifting, often flies in the face of the conservative beliefs in this area.

But not this time.

Fifty-two percent of Union County voters were in favor of legal pot sales. And more importantly, 57% of Marysville city residents cast affirmative votes. Issue 2 was approved in 14 of 18 Marysville precincts.

So what is council basing its decision on?

The will of the people is recorded in black and white. Majority rules. If Marysville schools only get 43% of the vote for its upcoming operating levy, district officials don’t get to say, “Yeah, but we really need the money, so we’re going to take it anyway.”

I understand that sometimes officials are tasked with making unpopular decisions in the interest of moving the city forward. I’m pretty sure a public vote on a roundabout moratorium would win in a landslide. But a dispensary ban doesn’t qualify.

This isn’t a move crucial to city operations. It’s council trying to put glue on the city’s moral compass.

The opinions of the few are being given more weight than the will of the many.

One council member realizes this. When this issue was first brought forward in February, J.R. Rausch said that while he personally voted against Issue 2, he would be opposed to banning dispensaries locally because the majority of voters approved the measure.

I fully realize that I could be opening myself up to be labeled a “pothead,” so let me say right here that I have never smoked marijuana. Not once. You can’t find a single person who will claim I have.

But I have friends who use cannabis. They are all good people and I don’t judge them for it. To think differently of them when their marijuana use does not impact me would be hypocritical.

Speaking of forked tongues and judgment, what is Marysville’s longtime slogan? “Where the grass is greener.” There is even a blade of grass included in the city logo. Why?

Obviously, it’s because of the city foundational business ties to the Scotts company, the lawncare giant that started in Marysville in the 1860s.

The multinational company has gone through an ever expanding product line through the generations, adding bird seed, pesticides, lawncare equipment and soil-less indoor gardening equipment over the years.

If that last one isn’t familiar to Nancy Reagan fans, it’s more common name is hydroponics and it’s a popular method of growing weed.

Under the dozens of companies operating under the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company banner you will find the Hawthorne Gardening Company, which is one of the leading producers of hydroponic systems and supplies.

Yep. Scotts is pro-pot.

The company position is clear on its website, under a tab called “Our Viewpoint – Cannabis Legislation.”

Under that tab you can find such quotes as “We believe the time has come for the United States to create a legal marketplace as other countries have already done” and “This means setting up markets with fair licensing systems that are demand-based and provide opportunities for large and small businesses alike.”

It also contains this doozy – “Overly-restrictive local bans and zoning rules have been used to limit market access and inflate costs, which drives consumers to the illegal market and undermines the state-regulated system. This is why we believe states should ensure local governments allow state-licensed cannabis businesses to operate in their jurisdictions.”

In 2023, Scotts even showed media members around its hemp research center, which includes a series of rooms with varied lighting, soil and humidity to determine ideal conditions for growth. That facility isn’t in California. It’s here in Marysville.

The Scotts research facility, manufacturing plant, corporate headquarters are all found in Marysville, along with a new massive warehouse facility just down the road on Industrial Parkway, secured by the offer of a 10-year, 75% tax abatement.

There is city income tax galore being produced by all of those facilities. I have never once heard a city official oppose any Scotts operation or expansion on the basis that the company supports legalized pot.

So, Marysville will take tax money off the back of a company that makes moves to further marijuana use at the highest levels, but will wag its fingers at small operations designed to serve recreational users.

I’ll have some of whatever city council is smoking.

-Chad Williamson is the managing editor at the Journal-Tribune.