The Pot Opt-out Debate in Burlington - how does it affect the area's safety?

Burlington is seeing two strong sides of the debate on the “Pot Opt-Out” issue. This issue is opening the discussion on whether or not to ban storefront cannabis dealers within municipal borders. At this time, municipalities have been given until January 22, 2019 to make a decision on whether or not they want to ban dispensaries from their area.

Some of the arguments coming forward for each side are below:

Opt Out

• Because regulations surrounding this are still unclear, Burlington should opt out until rules and logistics can be sorted out
• Licensing and zoning needs to be figured out before anything else – a temporary opt out is possible
• Some have expressed not wanting to be “guinea pigs” for a new program

Opt In

• Opting in will simply take over a market that already exists
• Opting in is going to be eventually inevitable anyways
• End the stigma surrounding the cannabis market
• Get ahead of the issue to help protect the city

Private retail outlets won’t be permitted until April 1, 2019 – numbers of outlets will not be capped. While most politicians agree that there is still a lot of logistics to be ironed out before any of this is plausible, disagreements are still fresh about whether it is better to opt-in now and figure things out, or opt-out now while the process is first figured out by other municipalities. Burlington city is interested in hearing from the public and encourages public feedback on the issue.