City is foolish to ban marijuana sales

I admire the mayor and certain members of the City Council for their quixotic efforts to eliminate marijuana from the city of Kent.

Having made it difficult for patients whose suffering would be relived by their prescriptions, they now propose to ban any regulated legal retail sales within the city limits as well.

I would suggest that we put the issue to a vote, but we already have, and retail sales won. Kudos for usurping democracy and the will of the people.

However, it is my understanding that a primary mission of the council is to promote new businesses. We have an opportunity here to open several, with a ready market sure to succeed. But Kent would rather not have these jobs, nor the B&O taxes, nor the rent of retail space, nor the related auxiliary business, sending this legal revenue to neighboring municipalities.

Toward what end?

Today as I walked through the streets of downtown I saw posters for a wine walk event endorsed by the city, so it can’t be to protect the citizens from recreational drug use.

I remember how earnestly (former) Mayor Jim White attempted to prevent the opening of a gay bar downtown. The bar opened anyway, and from the first day until the last when its doors closed of their own volition, not one prophecy of doom was fulfilled.

Within a few short years Kent will again realize how foolish it has been on the issue of marijuana, so I propose an alternative slogan for the city. Instead of Bringing the World Home, I would suggest, Behind the Curve in the Green River, and perhaps as an official bird of the city, an ostrich, with its head in the sand.

– Marshall Dunlap