Ansonia is the second town in the Valley to consider a moratorium on marijuana-related business in the wake of new state regulations governing medical marijuana.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing Monday (Aug. 26) regarding a proposed one-year moratorium on businesses such as marijuana grow operations. Only one person, Alderwoman Joan Radin, spoke at the public hearing, according to WTNH and the New Haven Register.
In an interview broadcast on WTNH, Radin, who owns a pharmacy on Wakelee Avenue, doubted marijuana has a medicinal use.
Click play on the video above to watch the WTNH report.
Contrast Radin’s public statements with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the doctor and CNN chief medical correspondent who apologized Aug. 8, saying his stance against medical marijuana was “irresponsible” and bolstered by bad science.
Click here to read Gupta’s full column.
In the same WTNH story, Bart Flaherty, chairman of the city’s planning and zoning commission, said the city needed the moratorium because the state is still drafting its regulations on the medicinal use of the drug.
A state legislative committee was scheduled to debate those regulations Tuesday (Aug. 27). Click here for background from CT News Junkie.
Ansonia officials said they haven’t received an application for a marijuana grow operation.
However, potential commercial pot growers have been looking in the lower Naugatuck Valley, because old factories can be refurbished into indoor pot farms.
Pot growers have inquired about Shelton, where city fathers are considering a nine-month moratorium on medical marijuana facilities.
A public hearing on the Shelton proposal is scheduled for Wednesday (Aug. 28) at 7 p.m. in City Hall. Click here to read the notice of the hearing.
And, while Ansonia doesn’t have a formal application, the Valley Indy knows at least one commercial property owner downtown has inquired about contact information for pot entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, towns in other parts of the state are welcoming the cannibas capitalists with open arms, focusing on potential tax revenue.
The Valley Indy first reported on the area being eyed by pot farmers back in June. Click here to read the story.
In a poll accompanying that story, 72 percent of 137 readers said they would support a local indoor commercial grow operation.
