Local residents to legislators: Can the ban. Proposal to block legal marijuana sales in Suffolk draws opposition

Local residents who spoke at a hearing on a bill to ban the retail sale of marijuana in Suffolk County overwhelmingly opposed the ban.

Tuesday’s legislative hearing at the Riverhead County Center was recessed after more than an hour of testimony. It will resume at the legislature’s next meeting March 26 in Hauppauge.

The bill, sponsored by Legislator Rob Trotta, a retired Suffolk County detective, would have Suffolk County opt out of allowing retail sales of marijuana if legislation currently pending in Albany is passed and signed into law. The state bills under consideration would make it legal for people 21 years of age or older to possess, use, buy or transport up to two pounds of marijuana and four and one-half ounces of concentrated cannabis and possess, plant, cultivate, dry and process up to six living marijuana plants. The bills would remove marijuana as a schedule one hallucinogen on the schedules of controlled substances.

The state would license and tax the production and retail sale of marijuana. According to a report issued last summer by the state health department, legalization could bring in between $248 million and $677 million in new tax revenue in its first year.

The proposed state law would allow counties and cities with populations of more than 100,000 to opt out.

“If Suffolk County says no to this, you’re out of your damned minds,” Susan Reeve of Riverhead told county lawmakers. The state law legalizing the sale of marijuana would be “a tax bonanza” for the county, she said.

Reeve said she’s been smoking for over 40 years and marijuana has helped her cope with post-surgical pain after more than 30 surgeries.

“Almost everybody I know smokes it. They’re not gonna come up here and say it, but I will,” Reeve said.

Trotta, a retired Suffolk County Police detective who opposes legalization of recreational use, said he would advocate for the expansion of medical marijuana.

“The idea that pot is a gateway drug is specious,” Mary Mulcahy of Greenport said. “Alcohol is a gateway drug,” she said.

“Many of us here have fought long and hard for this moment. Demonization of pot in the early 20h century was based on racism and ignorance. Stop the demonizing and legalize it.”

Abigail Field of Cutchogue admonished legislators that “prohibition doesn’t work.”

She asked how the county could justify having “a liquor store in every shopping center” while banning the retail sale of marijuana.

“I think it’s objectively true that alcohol is more dangerous,” Field said.

“I think you should treat marijuana as a vice — like alcohol, like cigarettes. Regulation of it should match reality,” she said.

Some legislators had back-and-forth discussions with constituents who took the podium on whether marijuana being sold today is stronger and more dangerous, whether the notion that legalization will reduce the disparity among races in arrests, prosecution and incarceration for marijuana possession, and whether legalization will have positive effects in society — as proponents claim.

Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory questioned whether legalizing marijuana would really help ensure equal treatment of the races under the law. He called that idea a “fallacy.”

James Tran, a PhD. student in molecular pharmacology, said legalization is the best way to ensure that the THC-to-CBD ratio in marijuana is balanced — and hence, safe.

“Criminal growers have increased THC in plants – there’s a profit motive,” he said. “This is a result of prohibition.”

Tran said the idea that marijuana is a “gateway drug” — one that leads users to try other drugs — is false.

“A 2014 study showed that 45 percent of marijuana users tried some other illegal drug at some point in their lives. The same study showed the real gateway drug is cigarettes. Teens that smoke or vape before age 15 are 80 percent more likely to use illegal drugs,” Tran said.

“People develop unhealthy relationships with drugs because of some mental health issue,” he said, urging legislators to “be realistic about marijuana. “Take control of it.” He suggested legislation to prevent the sale of marijuana thats above 12-percent THC content.

Moses Burdon told legislators they need to do more research and “get your facts straight.” He said crime in California and Colorado has decreased, tax revenues have increased and governments have been able to invest the revenues in improving infrastructure.

Angela Huneault of Flanders voiced strong support of the ban. She said marijuana is a gateway drug and should be subject to stricter laws and tougher penalties.

“I have watched in front of my eyes numerous people with impaired memory, their coordination is off, they have no idea what they’re even doing, they’re not making any sense and you can smell it on them,” Huneault said. 

“I smell it when I’m driving behind you and I can smell it coming from your car and you’re going from lane to lane,” she said. “I don’t want them on the roads.”

Susan Skura of Bayport also spoke in favor of the ban. She said her son and stepson became addicted to other drugs because they started using marijuana as teens. Pot use by teenagers destroys their lives, she said. Skura said she has been to too many funerals of young people who’ve died from heroin overdoses.

“They all started with marijuana,” she said.

David Willmott of Hampton Bays said there are “a lot of good arguments on both sides of the fence.” He said “whether it’s legal or illegal, the sales are going to happen. We live in a country where the consumer decides everything. People are going to find a way to buy it.”