GRANVILLE — The Granville Planning Commission will take up the debate on how to handle medical marijuana in town limits.
Granville Town Council heard from its lawyer and a Mon Health official at this week’s meeting, before deciding to send the issue on to the commission.
“West Virginia Legislature passed the Medical Cannabis Act, which allows people with prescriptions to use marijuana,” said Town Attorney Michael Solomon.
Under the Medical Cannabis Act, three types of organizations can operate to provide medical marijuana to the public: Growers, manufacturing facilities and dispensaries where it’s sold, Solomon said.
“Under West Virginia law, a municipality has the option to prohibit any of those organizations from operating within the town or limiting the number and location of those facilities,” Solomon said.
The city of Morgantown determined a dispensary would be a retail establishment.
“I think it could either be a retail establishment or a pharmacy,” Solomon said. “Both of those types of businesses are regulated as to location.”
President and CEO of Mon Health David Goldberg told council a little about how it’s handled in Pennsylvania.
“Coming from Pennsylvania, this has been significant,” Goldberg said. “There are medical cases that the state would allow certain diagnoses to get a prescription to use medical marijuana.
“Pennsylvania has 24 different conditions that would give you the ability for a doctor to prescribe, who has to have a certain amount of education, and then they could prescribe it and it’s regulated.”
A pharmacy doesn’t dispense the medical marijuana, it would only be through state-sanctioned locations, according to Goldberg.
The dispensaries would be limited to how close they can be to a daycare center, school or church, and that’s taken care of by state law, Solomon said.
“As a municipality, we have the right to prohibit it outright anywhere in the town or zone it,” he said. “If we’re not going to prohibit it outright, then it needs to be referred to the planning commission to make a recommendation to council as to where they’re going to be allowed. The planning commission would also need to address whether we’re going to limit the number of facilities that are located within the town.”
Solomon also told council it could impose other restrictions on locations
“I just think that out of respect for our community and our residents, personally, I don’t think anything like that should be allowed down in this area,” Granville Mayor Patricia Lewis said.
Council member Gene-vieve Calvert disagreed, saying there are people who need it and why not provide a place to buy it?
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