Georgetown Planning Commission says no to marijuana business ordinance

GEORGETOWN, Del.- A Georgetown committee has voted against an ordinance outlining rules for marijuana businesses in town.

The Planning Commission voted 3-2 to not recommend the ordinance to town council.

The vote came after a public hearing where both sides of the marijuana debate stated their case.

"What's in it for Georgetown?" asked neighbor Sue Barlow when addressing the Commission. "Nothing. We will receive none of those tax dollars... Our police staff is already understaffed and overworked. This is just one more thing they would have to do."

But Jon Peterson, who spoke at the meeting, said he believes marijuana has medicinal benefits and is misunderstood.

"There is no statistically sound scientifically proven relationship between marijuana and hard addictive drugs," he told CoastTV. "There's a lot of misconceptions about marijuana that have persisted year after year, decade after decade."

This is not the first time the discussion has come up with town officials. Town Council has also had it on their agenda numerous times.

According to town manager Gene Dvornick, this is not the final say. Town Council is hosting another public hearing on this topic some time in the coming months.