On Monday, Boulder City Council approved Bloom Montana’s request for recreational and medicinal marijuana sales, renewing their business license for one year effective July 1.
Only one council member was opposed to the motion, but many in attendance shared their disapproval.
“I stand in opposition to recreational marijuana,” said community member Newton “Smokey” Sloan. “I see nothing recreational about it because it’s a harmful drug.”
Jefferson County Prevention Specialist Jaret Streib also expressed his concerns with legal weed. He believes the sale of recreational marijuana – legal in Jefferson County since January 1 – has a dangerous connotation.
“It makes it sound like something fun to do, like camping or something of that nature,” he said. “It’s not an activity and we don’t want to promote it as such.”
Streib said, as the Council moves forward with Bloom, he wants there to be “caution and consideration” regarding the risks of marijuana use in the community, which he said include addiction and permanent IQ loss in youth.
“Is this what the Council wants for our youth?” Streib asked. “Because if we would like our youth to achieve their full potential we have to be mindful of the environments we are subjecting them to, which includes dispensaries.”
“Is this available to the youth?” Mayor Rusty Giulio asked.
“Potentially,” Streib said. “If you have access to a store, what’s to stop someone from going to their older brother who has the ability to go to the retail store? If it’s medical, we understand that, but retail doesn’t have a need per se in the community so there’s no reason to subject our youth to that potential danger.”
According to attorney Ed Guza, who joined the meeting virtually, the range of authority the City of Boulder has in this situation includes regulating marijuana businesses that operate within the Boulder city limits. However, Guza said he sees nothing in the Montana Code Annotated regarding the City having authority to prevent such a business from operating.
“The city can only regulate the business for health, safety or welfare,” he said.
This being the case, Guilio said he is open to further regulations moving forward, including how to tax recreational marijuana sales. Regulations will be reviewed, discussed and researched both by the city of Boulder and by the state, as Guilio anticipates next year’s Montana Legislature will make some regulation-related changes.
Barb Reiter, also a Jefferson County Prevention Specialist, told the Mayor and the Council she’d be happy to work with them and share her extensive research on impacts of marijuana to help them with their decision-making moving forward.
Bloom was also on the agenda for a signage request, but the agenda item was tabled, as no Bloom representatives were present. Manager Kaylee O’Brien was not available for comment before press time.
