Last month, members of the Orange County Cannabis Committee presented New York State’s cannabis program to the Village of Walden board, describing the benefits and regulations of permitting legal cannabis sales in the village. Since then, the mayor and trustees have mulled over the presentation and shared their thoughts during the village’s October 12 meeting, providing diverse opinions on whether opting in to the program would truly benefit the municipality.

Mayor Becky Pearson opened the conversation by questioning the state’s involvement and how much that helps local officers when shutting down illegal vendors. Vincent Rouhotas, an OC Cannabis Committee member who attended the meeting, asserted that the program would provide the Walden Police Department with exclusive state resources and assistance from the state task force, making it easier to track down said vendors and reduce the black market in the village.

“If the state is going to help us close down other entities that we already have in this village, that may be very helpful,” Pearson said. “I’d like to ask how much of that they really do. Do they really come in here and help the police department?”

“The state takes it very seriously when cracking down on the black market. I believe to date, there’s been over 1,300 inspections of facilities,” Rouhotas said. ”But if you do opt in, it opens up your police department to resources that are available from the state that aren’t available otherwise, to help crack down on illegal vendors. The state task force will work together with your police department to crack down on extortion.”

Trustee Cheryl Baker stated that the cannabis program would have great medical benefits, helping people with physical pains, mental and terminal illnesses, and neurological disorders. She believes people should have access to legal cannabis, especially if traditional medicine cannot help them.

“I look at the program from the medical end, having done elder care for many years. I’ve seen the reprieve people get from it, whether it be for pain, anxiety, PTSD, multiple sclerosis, or chemo nausea,” Baker said. “I don’t believe in restricting that access to those people, they have a right to that reprieve. It’s an adult choice and people have to make the decision that’s best for them and their families, and I don’t believe that should be prevented.”

“This also applies to children with autism, who normally can’t function as an everyday child because of what they’re going through. To see the difference that made for them where they can function like a child, I personally can’t look at a kid and say ‘no, you can’t have that,’” she continued. “Or to someone who has cancer or a different terminal illness, where the traditional medications don’t work. I believe that people should have access to that.”

Trustee Gerald Mishk felt that the state resources would not be very helpful, given that officers have been trying to shut down drug trafficking for decades. He also pointed out that there are already dispensaries in Newburgh and near Middletown, not too far from Walden. If residents needed cannabis, they could just purchase it from either area.

“The state has had these resources in place, but they don’t really have much. If we look back to the times before marajuana was legalized, police have been trying to bust dealers for years, and they weren’t able to stop them. I don’t care what resources they’re gonna give us, they’re always going to be somebody out there undercutting the legal places selling,” Mishk said. “There are also cannabis shops in most of the towns around us; I believe there’s at least two in the Town of Newburgh, and a few outside of Middletown. If they’re adults, what’s the big deal about going there and getting it?”

Mishk added that, given the proximity between the village’s residential and business areas, he would not want to live near a dispensary, emphasizing the facility’s smell and traffic. Trustees Liz Kyle and Ralph Garrison Jr. then chimed in, arguing that living next to a dispensary would be similar to living next to a liquor store or bar.

“The other thing to consider here in the village is most of our business areas are surrounded by homes. I know I wouldn’t want to live next to a pot shop,” Mishk said. “I don’t want to have the smell, I don’t want to see the traffic going in there, I want to park my car where I want to park it and not have to wait until the adult makes their pickup.”

“How is it so much different than someone living next to a liquor store, besides the smell?” Kyle said. Garrison then added “Or how about a bar that’s open until two in the morning, with music playing in the middle of Walden?”

Trustee Lynn Thompson stated that she recently surveyed her neighborhood about their thoughts on a dispensary in the village. She found that most of her neighbors were okay with the idea, so long as a facility was not built near their homes. Many of her neighbors also expressed displeasure with the village’s vape shops, and they speculated that a dispensary could drive them away.

“I took the liberty of surveying my neighborhood to see what people thought about it. Nobody wants it near our neighborhood, and I told them they don’t have to worry about that since we have a church on our block,” Thompson said. “Otherwise, I have the whole age range in my neighborhood, from newborns to 90-year-olds, and most people really didn’t have a problem with it.”

“Most of my neighbors are also unhappy that we have so many vape shops in our community to begin with. But they liked the idea that if we have a legitimate dispensary, it can put some of those other businesses out of commission,” she continued. “But then the topic came up ‘well, if we drive those businesses out, what’s going to take up those storefronts?’ Are we going to have empty storefronts again?”

Garrison is a big advocate for the program and a village dispensary; he agreed with Baker on the medical benefits, and asserted that a facility would keep residents shopping in Walden. He added that local kids and teens will always find a way to obtain substances like drugs and alcohol, regardless if the village has a dispensary or not, but he felt that a facility would drive away illegal sales.

“We were all teens, we were all young, and we all know that if we want something, we’re going to get it regardless of how we get it. I remember being 17 and magically finding alcohol in the woods by my house because somebody ‘accidently’ left it,” Garrison said. “The younger kids are going to get it regardless if we have or don’t have a shop in town; it’s the same thing with alcohol, the same thing with tobacco products, and it’s going to be the same thing with marajauna products. If they want it bad enough, they’re going to find a way to get it.”

“This program would get rid of the illegal sales out of the gas stations and storefronts that aren’t supposed to be selling it, because it’s regulated a little better,” he continued. “I’m a big advocate for it, I think it’s a great idea, and if you have one in Walden, all the people that are traveling out of Walden are going to stay in Walden.”

Trustee Bill Taylor, meanwhile, is not very fond of the program, and his stance has not changed since last month. While he understands the medical benefits, he does not find the revenue or state resources very alluring, and he does not believe that the program will mitigate the illegal sales in the village. He also recounted seeing a dispensary billboard on Route 300, describing it as “a circus coming to town,” and he felt that it went against the state’s regulations on cannabis advertisement.

“This village is our house, and if we have issues that need to be cleaned up, that’s where I want to be. I don’t want to rely on bringing in a dispensary to assist in that cleanup aspect; it makes some sense to drive out the illegals, but I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Taylor said.” And I’m not hooking my wagon to the economical carrot that’s dangled when this subject comes up. That’s the state’s big selling point; it doesn’t push the medicinal aspect, it’s pushing the economic reward that you could reap.”

Pearson was not opposed to establishing a dispensary in Walden and considered both the medicinal benefits and state resources very appealing. Regarding Mishk’s comment about living next to a dispensary, she stated that people in her neighborhood already use cannabis and she frequently smells it in the air.

Pearson concluded the discussion with an important question: where would a dispensary be built in the village? Per the state’s proximity laws, a dispensary must maintain a certain distance away from places like schools, daycares, houses of worship, municipal buildings, and community centers. Considering that Walden contains several churches, along with other buildings like the village hall and Walden Elementary School, a dispensary may be impossible to fit into the zoning. Hence, the board did not make a decision on the program yet, and Pearson requested Village Manager John Revella and Village Attorney Dominic Cordisco to review the village zoning and find locations that a dispensary could fit in.

“You would have to look at schools and churches, the distances away from them, what zoning you could put a facility in, and where that might be. It may not even be allowable in the village depending on the distance,” Pearson said.