By Marilyn Steele
Debate sparked at the third and final public hearing on Oct. 12 over a proposal to permit cannabis sales in the Village of Hempstead.
The Hempstead Board of Trustees is weighing the potential financial gain that officials said the village has been missing out on. If dispensaries were permitted in Hempstead, 3% of all product sales would go to the village, according to officials.
New York State legalized the sale of recreational marijuana in 2021, granting local governments the authority to opt in or out of permitting retail dispensaries within their borders. Village officials are debating whether to amend their initial opt-out decision after seeing the potential financial benefits for the community.
Municipalities such as the Town of Babylon, Village of Farmingdale and certain Queens neighborhoods have profited from cannabis sales, according to officials. By making the dispensaries local, Deputy Mayor Jeffrey Daniels said, the village would be able to use those funds to better the village while saving residents tax dollars.
“We’re looking at options because we don’t want to raise taxes and make the burden on the residents. So it’s just a way of seeing how we can bring in other revenue,” Daniels said.
Another point raised during the hearing was the safety of cannabis currently being sold on village streets. According to supporters, bringing dispensaries to the village would make consumption of the product safer, as fewer people would likely buy cannabis from unlicensed sellers.
“In New York, they can trace [cannabis] all the way back to its seedling. Every single package has a court code on it that will give the lifecycle of that seed, so they will know exactly where it came from,” Daniels said.
If dispensaries were permitted, the village would require that they remain at least 200 feet from houses of worship and 500 feet from schools and designated public youth facilities.
Certain residents said they want to support community members who wish to open dispensaries. “Most people have a relationship with their dealer,” said Erin Thurmond, a resident and cannabis advocate. “You have a personal relationship and you learn to trust them. You don’t just trust anybody.”
There has, however, been pushback from certain locals who believe adding dispensaries would cause more harm than good. The residents said they are concerned that cannabis could become more accessible to teenagers if dispensaries were to open in the village.
“You have kids walking 45 minutes to high school and the thought of them walking by a cannabis shop — it has to spark curiosity,” said Reine Bethany, a resident and the Village of Hempstead historian. “To me, it normalizes the use, so it’s very difficult for me to accept the idea of bringing it into the village”.
Community members also said they worried that dispensaries would be located in residential areas. However, according to the board, the stores would only be placed in the village’s business and industrial districts.
After the hearing, village trustees said they had reached no official decision, but would consider residents’ comments before determining whether to legalize recreational dispensaries within the village.
The next Hempstead Village Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 2, at 6:30 p.m., in the Village Hall courtroom, with Zoom access.
