Voters should decide marijuana issue

In her August 25 Spectrum piece, Savon Duchein raised a number of questions about voter initiatives on commercial marijuana. These questions, as well as many others surrounding this issue, are important to discuss prior to the October 6 vote.

Before diving into those questions, I would like to thank Ms. Savon for her tireless service as a member of the Borough’s Marijuana Advisory Commission. She was a well-informed and articulate advocate on behalf of the commercial marijuana industry. During the Mayor’s public forum on marijuana, Ms. Savon impressed and educated many of us with her testimony.

The question I hear most often asked is ‘why is this issue coming before the voters again?’ The production, manufacture, and sales of commercial marijuana are entirely different questions from the ballot measure that included personal and recreational use last fall. Furthermore, when questions came up last year about the commercial roll out of marijuana, voters were told that there would be a local option.

I believe that Mat-Su voters deserve to now vote on the question of their local option. On October 6, residents within the cities of Palmer, and Houston will have the chance to vote for or against the production, manufacture, and sales of commercial marijuana within their city limits.

As a matter of due process, I believe Mat-Su voters should decide the local option question prior to potential business making investment decisions. No matter what the industry is their number one necessity is having a stable regulatory environment. Any business, any industry, must know what the rules of the game are before they decide to play.

Having Mat-Su voters decide on their local option brings clarity to this budding business before making investment decisions.

I have not campaigned either for or against the production, manufacture, or sales of commercial marijuana in the Borough. I respectfully ask to not be attributed to disparaging comments against commercial marijuana. While that debate is a very important part of the public process, I vow to listen to the discussion, and work to implement the will of the voters.

To date, I am the only candidate for Borough Mayor who wants Mat-Su voters to decide whether or not to allow a local option for the production, manufacture, and sales of commercial marijuana.

While some may think that the upcoming election will undermine the recommendations of the Marijuana Advisory Commission, I believe we must be ready for either scenario. I do not assume that the voter initiatives will ban commercial marijuana in the voting cities. I do firmly believe, however, that if Mat-Su residents establish commercial marijuana operations, the Borough will be well positioned to be on the cutting edge of biological technology to facilitate appropriate regulations, which will be better than either Colorado or Washington.

I encourage all the voters of the Borough to thoroughly study this issue, and be sure to vote on October 6.

Larry DeVilbiss is the Mat-Su Borough Mayor.