It was no surprise when I read in The Herald News on April 3 that three of the five companies building dispensaries for medical marijuana will apply to sell marijuana recreationally as well.
Former mayor Will Flanagan, who is the point person for Hope, Heal, Health, said, "As a dispensary, we want to make sure we provide as many options as possible for our clients and our patients."
Dr. Henry Crowley said, “Whatever the community agrees to with the adult use of cannabis, we will conform to that.”
“I’m sure we will have to be competitive with whatever the market will do,” said Chris Harkins of Northeast Alternatives.
These individuals are not concerned with needs of their community or their clients. The facts are that recreational marijuana use will open the door for many other problems. Recreational marijuana not only destroys individuals, it tears down complete families and causes crime rates such as burglary, assaults, robberies and murders to increase. We read instances in this very newspaper often.
Proponents are trying to downplay recreational marijuana smoking as something to be acceptable. Smoking pot recreationally is as a way for people to escape reality, just like excessive alcohol use. I know of some recreational pot users who moved onto something with a bit more "kick" when the marijuana high just didn't do it anymore. At my former workplace, those who smoked marijuana recreationally were the least productive workers and the first to be let go when production schedules slowed.
The greed, the profits and the almighty dollar is what drives these people and the industry to deceive our voiceless public. Unfortunately, our city administration and our silent current and past city councilors are all in favor of it.
Joe Soares
Fall River