I have noticed the recent activity in town that seems geared to overturning the town’s marijuana bylaws, and it bothers me greatly.
I take umbrage at Theresa Hoggins’ patronizing assertions and implications, as reported in a recent Harvard Press article, “that many town residents were insufficiently informed” or were confused by the ballot question, and exhausted at town meetings. We must trust that our voters do their job to be informed, and if the town meetings were sparse when the relevant bylaws were discussed, we should infer that it was due to the voters’ apathy to these questions.
I also am bothered by Theresa’s “Consider This…” article that appeared in the Press last week, for two reasons: It failed to mention the relative threat from cannabis versus alcohol and tobacco, and implied that we are collectively responsible for the unintended consequences of products manufactured in this town.
To address the first point, even casual research shows much more risk to our children from alcohol and tobacco than cannabis.
Considering the second point, refer to an article in the Press from 1/25/2018 on youth risk, which asserts that kids in our town start using “tobacco, e-cigarettes, marijuana and alcohol (even binge drinking)” earlier than kids in other towns. If we are serious about protecting our children and think that the commercial presence of a substance in town adversely affects our children, then we should be consistent and ban all substances with the same or greater harm.
To wash the blood from our hands, I would support a consistent citizen petition that asks for a complete ban on the manufacture, sale, and serving of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. If we’re serious about responsibility for unintended consequences, then we should ban the manufacture and sale of firearms, too. Otherwise, I ask that we step away from the fear-mongering historically associated with cannabis, step away from the hypocrisy of dealing sternly with one issue while letting more serious issues pass, and consider that the voters have already spoken on all these issues.
Ted Stefanik
Old Littleton Road
