NEW ALBANY, Ohio — Residents in New Albany have mixed reactions after its city council passed an ordinance preventing recreational marijuana from being sold.
The legislation was unanimously passed after being introduced on Tuesday.
The ordinance, which prevents the cultivation, processing and retail dispensing of recreational marijuana in the city, says the prohibition is in the best interest of the community's health, welfare and safety.
“I would agree with the city of New Albany,” said resident Leslie Fox.
In a statement, New Albay Mayor Sloan Spalding said, “We are simply following the same approach as with medical marijuana, setting clear City expectations for potential businesses interested in retail sales or cultivation.”
Back in 2017, New Albany City Council put a ban on medical marijuana businesses.
However last November, more than half of voters in New Albany approved Issue 2 which legalized marijuana for adult recreational use, according to the Franklin County Board of Elections.
“It doesn't seem like a decision that was made for the people in mind," said Carly Zehr of New Albany. "The people we know and live with and work with, we do smoke. We do take it recreationally, appropriately."
On Tuesday, over 100 dispensaries across the state began selling recreational marijuana to adults 21 and over.
The ban applies to the commercial aspects of recreational marijuana.
State law allows individuals across the state to grow up to six plants per adult user with a limit of twelve plants per household.
“When you take a position that is different than what the people have voted, then you better be able to justify that position,” said New Albany resident Bob Burnam.
“I just don't see it as being the place where we would have recreational marijuana,” said Fox.