GREEN VALLEY — A medical marijuana dispensary is planning to find in Inexperienced Valley however should first get hold of approval of the placement from members of the Mercer County Board of Well being, who don’t assume the approval needs to be their accountability.
The query of whether or not the board will OK the placement of the Greenlight Dispensary continues to be up within the air as a result of the request for approval has been despatched to the Mercer County Fee, the entity, board members say, that ought to make the choice.
Dr. Randy Maxwell, board chair, spoke to the commissioners earlier this month, telling them to contemplate taking the accountability because the location of the dispensary itself is a enterprise resolution and has nothing to do with public well being.
Maxwell stated the state might require the board of well being to make the choice, however he requested commissioners to achieve out to delegates to vary that.
Throughout the board’s assembly Thursday, Maxwell stated he obtained no suggestions from the fee.
“That may be a county fee’s resolution,” stated board Vice Chair Stacey Hicks. “They’re elected officers … and will make selections primarily based on enterprise. We’re a county well being division. I don’t imagine we needs to be within the enterprise of approving places. That isn’t our job.”
Board member Robb Williams agreed.
“It has nothing to do with this board,” he stated.
Hicks made a movement to ship the request for approval to the county fee, which was handed unanimously.
“We are able to try this however it might come again to us,” Maxwell stated. “If we now have to decide, we’ll.”
Fee President Gene Buckner stated it probably will likely be returned to the well being board.
“We are able to check out it,” he stated. “However we will’t decide. That’s as much as them. We may have a dialogue about it and transfer on.”
Buckner stated it’s a State Code concern and the choice was legally given to the board of well being to make.
“They need us to take it up as a result of it’s affecting different property homeowners,” he stated, however at this level the commissioners’ fingers are tied. “I don’t assume we now have a leg to face on.”
Buckner stated the method is below the auspices of the Division of Well being and Human Assets and he has talked to legislators about it however doesn’t know if they are going to pursue altering the regulation.
The one restrictions on location of a medical hashish dispensary are that it can’t be inside 1,000 ft of a day care heart or faculty (public or personal), Maxwell stated, including that the board of well being doesn’t need to approve of a location for different proximity-restricted companies like a video poker facility or bar.
Greenlight Dispensary already has accomplished work on the constructing, situated on Professional Circle off Glenwood Highway in Princeton beside the Rt. 460 and Courthouse Highway intersection. The shop has an indication that claims it plans to open this spring.
The nationwide firm, which already has greater than 15 dispensaries across the nation, can also be planning a dispensary for Highland Avenue in Bluefield between Bluefield Avenue and Rt. 52.
Two close by property homeowners on the Princeton web site advised the board on the Thursday assembly they have been involved concerning the dispensary finding in that particular space due to restricted parking, elevated site visitors congestion at a busy intersection and attainable detrimental affect on property values.
The board of well being authorized permitting medical marijuana dispensaries within the county in December 2020 after the state made using hashish to deal with quite a lot of medical points authorized. Anybody who makes use of medical marijuana should get hold of a prescription from a physician who’s licensed to jot down them.
— Contact Charles Boothe at [email protected]
