NEWS

Oak Harbor community to drive medical marijuana policy

Jon Stinchcomb
Reporter

OAK HARBOR - With the hope of having village residents help determine local policy on the controversial issue of medical marijuana, recently legalized in Ohio, Oak Harbor held a town hall meeting Thursday to discuss where and how to go forward.

While no local municipalities in the state can pass measures that would criminalize the authorized use of medical marijuana, following its legalization that took effect in September, there is still a lot of remaining leeway local governments will have when it comes to regulating the drug within their jurisdictions.

On one end, they could go as far as completely prohibiting distribution, cultivation and processing of marijuana inside the village limits, Oak Harbor Mayor Joe Helle explained providing an overview of all the options.

But if the village decides to go in the other direction, medical marijuana businesses could be a potentially significant revenue generator through possible local taxation, fees and permitting.

“Finance is going to be a big thing,” Helle said. “A lot of people are looking at this as a money grab and may be not considering other things.”

Because marijuana is recognized federally as a Schedule I drug and cannot be officially prescribed, doctors will have to write patients a recommendation that can then be taken to a dispensary where the marijuana can be purchased. Those purchases will be taxable at the local level.

However, Helle noted if marijuana were to be a permitted prescription drug in the future, the purchase of prescription medications is not taxable.

Randy Genzman, Oak Harbor’s village administrator, cited a few examples of the rates that municipalities in other states have set regarding medical marijuana businesses, such as a $30,000 annual fee and a 1.8 percent tax on sales, whereas another was a flat 10 cents per dollar on marijuana proceeds.

“(Municipalities) can set just about any permit fee, annual fee, any tax rate that the state will allow,” Genzman said.

Helle added, with the state granting municipalities a “pretty wide latitude” on how to handle it locally, it is his administration’s policy to try to deliver what the Oak Harbor community wants regarding whether to allow the medical marijuana businesses or not.

Helle has considered the possibility of putting the question on a ballot.

“I think some folks in the community are going to see it as a detriment, seeing it as drugs flooding the streets under the guise that it's legal medicinally,” he said. “On the other hand, certainly, tax dollars would be beneficial to our community as a whole.”

jstinchcom@gannett.com

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Twitter: @JonDBN