Just say no to pot in Day Road area | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

To the editor: I am sure that those attempting to start legal pot businesses on the Island have good intentions and I don’t want to suggest otherwise. However, if retail sales and the growing of pot on Bainbridge is such a community “good” and so important to our “pursuit of happiness” and “tolerance,” why is the community and the city council trying to relegate the pot enterprises to the “out of sight, out of mind” Day Road Industrial Park?

To the editor:

I am sure that those attempting to start legal pot businesses on the Island have good intentions and I don’t want to suggest otherwise. However, if retail sales and the growing of pot on Bainbridge is such a community “good” and so important to our “pursuit of happiness” and “tolerance,” why is the community and the city council trying to relegate the pot enterprises to the “out of sight, out of mind” Day Road Industrial Park?

This social engineering experiment should be out in the open where all those who voted for or against it can see the experimental results in full view as they unfold (Winslow Way perhaps?). Don’t hide it from the NIMBY’s who don’t want to suffer any ill effects as a result of their “yes” vote.

I can see there may be some medical uses for pot, but in that case I believe it should be sold through the island pharmacies and treated as a drug. Wait a minute — it is a drug! The pot-infused products similar to gummy bears, gold fish crackers and candy bars now being sold in Seattle raise my suspicions about where this may lead in the future.

Our minimum impact may be specifying “non-pot cuisine” as well as vegetarian, vegan or other food preferences? Wait a minute; pot is vegetarian and vegan.

However there is another interesting issue that seems to be unique to the Island. There are only a few buildings at the industrial park with locations that meet the city council proposed regulations. So these building owners, of which I am one, may make the final choice allowing pot businesses here by their decisions to lease or not to lease. On a very small scale this is similar to a president’s use of the executive order or a state legislatures attempt to override a citizens’ initiative.

This isn’t necessarily fair, however, pot does not belong “out of sight” in the Day Road Industrial Park. So my preference is no! Concerning pot, just because we can do it doesn’t mean we should do it.

GARY LOVERICH

Bainbridge Island