To the editor:
In a Dec. 28 letter to the editor, Paul Brannigan asked the following question: “Do we want to potentially be the only municipality in 40 or 50 miles that permits marijuana lounges?”
The answer is a simple “yes.”
I witnessed the implementation of legal marijuana in California firsthand when I was a resident of San Francisco. It has been a resounding success. The dispensaries in San Francisco are clean and modern, resembling an Apple store more than a bar or liquor store. The clientele at San Francisco dispensaries are (not so) surprisingly a combination of locals and tourists. Typical customers would be a well-dressed 60-year-old couple asking for help sleeping, or for something to take the edge off without an accompanying hangover. The idea that the typical customer is a “weed head” is playing on a dated trope from Cheech & Chong movies.
Marijuana users are already all around us, adults of all ages. There is nothing sketchy about visiting a California dispensary — no security concerns, no vagrants loitering. Without picking apart every fear-inducing angle in the letter, the idea that marijuana use would lead to more drunk driving is absurd (people are seeking legal alternatives to alcohol). And, while I’m not advocating driving drunk or stoned, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has determined that driving stoned is not dissimilar to driving sober (https://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/812118-roadside_survey_2014.pdf), and much safer than driving drunk. Again, this is all theoretical hogwash — empirical evidence shows legal marijuana has no impact on teen use nor traffic fatalities (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/21/legal-marijuana-data-show-minimal-effects-teen-use-traffic-deaths/6005737002/).
For all of the hand wringing over marijuana being a gateway drug (hint: it’s not), legalizing marijuana has been much ado about nothing (https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/effect-state-marijuana-legalizations-2021-update).
There is no reason for the trustees to arbitrarily overturn the will of the people. When I read that they declined to opt out, I was so relieved at a rational move. Saranac Lake will have something to distinguish ourselves from Lake Placid, Tupper Lake, etc. We will generate revenue and visitors, and build on our culture and arts brand before those municipalities come to their senses and opt back in.
We don’t need an emergency meeting for a vocal minority to overturn the will of the people. If you don’t like marijuana, don’t smoke it. It’s simple. The rest of the many of us on the other hand …
Sincerely,
Chris Clark
Saranac Lake
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