BEREA, Ohio – Berea City Council members at their March 11 work session had a lengthy discussion about whether to allow recreational marijuana cultivators, processors and dispensaries to operate in the city.
City Council followed up at its March 18 regular meeting with proposed legislation to ban those types of enterprises. Municipalities have the option under state law to ban or limit the number of cannabis businesses within their borders.
The Berea ordinance received its first of three public readings.
Resident Renee Krohn thanked City Council “for taking a proactive stance” but encouraged members to make revisions prior to passage.
“I seriously urge council to come up with another option rather than a complete ban,” Krohn said. “Nearly 70 percent of the voters in this city voted (in favor of Ohio Issue 2 in November 2023) for access to recreational marijuana.
“I do agree growing, cultivating and processing may not be possible in our city due to the density and land masses, but a dispensary is (possibly viable).”
She said she researched the topic, and people who legally can now grow marijuana at home may get as many as 300 to 1,200 rolled joints from just one plant.
“So, banning dispensaries doesn’t do a single thing to control usage in the communities,” Krohn stressed. “It could make it worse.”
“Marijuana is not going away,” Krohn added. “What you will start to find are homegrown sellers and growers flying under the radar … and stretching law enforcement in the neighborhoods.”
Mayor Cyril Kleem emphasized Issue 2 passage, beyond allowing recreational marijuana use, meant voters agreed with language giving cities the ability to restrict those types of businesses.
“My biggest issue is with the 500-foot radius the businesses can’t be in by churches, schools and public parks,” Kleem said. “There are very, very, very few places (in Berea) a dispensary could go anyway. And the places they could go, they probably wouldn’t want to.
“For me, this is just a practical issue of how much time we want to spend debating legislation that really has no practical reality for this city … and is something that probably isn’t going to happen.”
Council members decided to further study the draft ordinance and propose any changes to the law director before its second reading at the next council meeting.
Read more stories from the News Sun.