Brookfield Officials Want Your Input on Pot Sales

09.03.19

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Written by Julia Reinthaler and David E. Smith

Next month, Village of Brookfield officials will continue the debate on whether or not to allow marijuana dispensaries and marijuana businesses from setting up shop. No trustees have yet made their opinion known except to say they need input from residents.

According to an article by Bob Uphues:

The village board likely will take up the subject of recreational cannabis at its next meeting on Sept. 9. However, if trustees decide they want to allow a cannabis dispensary to open in the village, it could still be at least a couple of months before local laws regulating such businesses are nailed down.

It is imperative that local officials hear from pro-family residents, especially the clergy!

Don’t let proponents deceive you with their “tax revenues” talking points. According to a report published by the Centennial Institute, “for every dollar gained in tax revenue, Coloradans spend approximately $4.50 to mitigate the effects of legalization.” The costs of legal pot is not worth the costs to families, communities and lives.

Although the licensed growth, sale, possession and use of marijuana will be legal in Illinois effective January 1, 2020, the legislation signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker allows villages, cities and counties to opt out of marijuana retail sales. This gives communities the opportunity to limit drug traffic by saying “no” to the retail presence of a federally classified Schedule 1 Drug, which is a dangerous intoxicant that the DEA deems has “a high potential for abuse.”

Far from being an innocuous drug that the marijuana lobby portrays as safe and even medicinal, marijuana has serious health risks that should alarm any parent and community.

According to a 2017 review from the National Academy of Medicine, cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses, and among regular users it is likely to increase the risk for developing social anxiety disorder.

According to a 2018 paper published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, people who used cannabis were almost three times as likely to use opiates three years later.

Another study, released in Australia, cited that patients with chronic pain who used cannabis experienced even greater pain over time, dispelling the myth that pot relieves pain better than other available pain medicines.

To understand the effects that marijuana legalization will ultimately have in Illinois, we need look no further than Colorado to see a cautionary tale of the unintended consequences of marijuana legalization. In the six years since marijuana was legalized in Colorado, the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana has doubled. There have been increased rates in marijuana-related emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and higher rates of violent crime. Though legal for 21 and older, more than a fourth of Colorado’s middle and high school students use pot more than once daily. Chronic use by those under 25 can lead to a permanent loss of up to 8 IQ points.

Knowing what we know about the tragic and often irreversible effects of marijuana, we cannot in good conscience permit a retailer to peddle a drug that robs so many youth of their future and compromises the safety of our citizenry. Instead of making Brookfield a haven for those selling the drug and those seeking to purchase it, let’s make it a refuge for families seeking to shield their loved ones from this drug’s destructive path.

Next month’s meeting might lead to a vote that will shape the future of Brookfield.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send an email to Village President Kit P. Ketchmark and all six Village Trustees asking them to reduce drug traffic and protect the families of the community by passing a ban on the retail sales of marijuana. You can also call Mr. Kechmark’s office at (708) 485-1400 to urge him to ban retail marijuana sales in Brookfield.