Northport Village Board opts out of cannabis sales

The Northport Village Board voted to opt out of allowing cannabis dispensaries or on-site consumption establishments within their jurisdiction at last night’s board meeting. The decision comes as no surprise, as the three trustees and mayor had already voiced their opinions on the matter, before residents spoke at the Village’s two public hearings in November.

Trustee Dave Weber, who recently announced that he’ll be running for mayor in the March 2022 election, said at the November 16 public hearing, that “one of the ways to protect our residents is to give them safe ways to purchase legal marijuana.” But he decided to vote to opt out because the state hasn’t “established enough regulations” and “the prudent decision would be to wait and see what happens in the other towns.”

Trustee Tom Kehoe said from early on in the discussion that he’s opposed to allowing cannabis dispensaries in the Village, and voiced concern about “the children and grandchildren” who live here. Just because the state voted for cannabis legalization, “doesn’t make it right,” he noted.

Last night, Trustee Ian Milligan explained that there are a “lot of unknowns” regarding cannabis sales and the Village should “take a step back and not be the trailblazers.”

Although the board officially opted out last night, they can still “opt back in” at a later date, if they so choose. The future of cannabis in the Village depends heavily on the March election and who will be filling the seats for all four trustees and the mayor. Mayoral candidate Donna Koch thanked the board for opting out at last night’s meeting and noted in a letter to the editor published in The Observer that if she were elected in 2022, the board would stay opted out.

Two candidates for trustee, Jim Izzo and Joe Sabia, voiced their opinions on the issue during the Village’s public hearings as well. At the November 3 hearing, Izzo questioned the financial benefits of opting in. He said that if the impetus is financial, “we don’t know the numbers yet” and that adult-use cannabis sales “sound like it’s going to cost us $5 to make $2” because of the potential need for additional paramedics and police officers. He also spoke about a dispensary degrading property values in the area. But Izzo noted that this decision should be part of a public referendum in March so that residents can vote on it themselves.

At the same hearing, Sabia said that he is “anti drugs” and opting in would “tie our police officers’ hands” because they’d be using their time enforcing driving under the influence laws. He said that we don’t need the “clientele that’s going to come here, smoking marijuana.”

As of now, the Towns of Babylon, Brookhaven and Riverhead have voted to opt in, and leaders at Shinecock Nation in Southampton voted in September to allow for the sale and growth of adult-use cannabis on their land.

The Huntington Town Board is set to vote on the matter at this coming Tuesday’s 2pm meeting. The overall tone of the Huntington public hearing on local cannabis sales was noticeably different than that of Northport Village. Many more participants spoke in favor of allowing sales of regulated and taxed cannabis within the town. The Huntington board, however, has been silent on their intentions to opt in or out.