We don’t run the city, and it may not be our place to tell the city how it should be run; however, when a majority of the Merced City Council wants more shops which dispense marijuana, we can’t let it just slide by without making a comment in our editorial column.
There are other businesses which need the support and backing of the City Council other than marijuana shops.
Look at all the private business which could not make a go of it during the covid. The owners of our glass window business gave up and moved to Montana. The lock and key people who we always called when we were locked out moved to Nevada.
Sit down restaurants had a terrible time during the pandemic.
Maybe it is the idea of how does the city make more money to pay its bills?
We have some real questions about basing an economy on Marijuana. National news says the Chinese are buying up tons of land in the Midwest for Marijuana growing. Will it replace corn? Try living on it.
Yes, California calls it a “Recreation Drug,” but where is there a drug to get people back to work?
Can we trust an employee who uses Marijuana before going to work? If so how long do we wait until the drug wears off?
Are we comfortable with the full long-term effects of Marijuana? We have yet to see a study which will take thousands of Marijuana users from the time they are old enough to use it, and see if they are any more likely to do harder drugs.
Our government is good on doing studies on everything else.
We admit we are not speaking from experience. We are not interested in smoking marijuana. We believe it blurs thought.
Some would say, “So does alcohol.”
Since there are plenty of businesses in town that sell alcoholic beverages, why not Marijuana?
These are good questions, and we don’t have all the answers.
This is why we have elections, and when we don’t support something, we can show that at the polls.
Why don’t we put it on the next city ballot, and let the people decide.
Very simple. Do the people of Merced want more Marijuana shops or not? We know what our vote would be right now. No!