Danville City Council members have voted to approve the sale and taxation of recreational marijuana. The 9 to 3 vote came after about an hour of discussion with most of those commenting saying they oppose the sale of marijuana in the city.
One of those who spoke was Deanna Witzel, who has been volunteering with the Step Up Program in Danville…
{‘’Our Step-Up Substance Abuse Team has worked very, very hard over the last two years to address this problem and (is) making many, many accomplishments. And this is just going to make our job even harder,’’ said Witzel. ‘’On the other hand I’m very conflicted, because as I understand the law, Vermilion County has one license for a dispensary and if Danville doesn’t do it it’s very likely that one of the other towns are going to do it.’’}
Paster Thomas Miller urged the council members to reject the sale of marijuana in the city….
[The Danville City Council Chambers was packed for Tuesday night’s meeting. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.]
{‘’We are going to have to look in the faces of all of the citizens that may end up suffering from the ability of being able to have easy access to this drug. We also know that there’s going to be some elements of people that are going to make an increase through not just the marijuana, but they’re going to use other types of drugs that will be possibly connected to the marijuana that will make even a greater impact of destroying people’s lives,’’ added Pastor Miller.}
Along with approving the sale of marijuana when a new law goes into effect on January 1st of next year the city council also agreed to impose a 3-percent tax on it.
City Council members Sherry Pickering, Brenda Brown and Reverend R. J. Davis voted against allowing recreational marijuana to be sold in Danville and the 3-percent tax on it. Those voting in favor were council members Dan Duncheon, Mike O’Kane, Sharon McMahon, Tom Stone, Mike Puhr, Aaron Troglia, Bob Iverson, Steve Nichols and Vice Mayor Steve Foster.
