South Bethany moves forward with making ordinance to ban the sale of marijuana within town limits

SOUTH BETHANY, Del. - The town of South Bethany is proposing to ban the sale of marijuana within town limits.

At a town council meeting on Friday, the council members voted to move forward with the process of creating an ordinance that would ban the sale of marijuana in South Bethany. 

Some like local Tim Shaw say the town has their reasons for making this decision besides wanting to keep the family atmosphere intact. 

"We don't want to have someone say let's start moving forward making plans, preparations, investments in the marijuana business because South Bethany will allow it," Shaw said. "We need to make sure we make it very clear, ASAP that we're going to be the same as the other towns adjacent which is to say we don't want that here."

Some beach towns like Bethany Beach, Dewey Beach and Fenwick Island all have banned the sale in their towns.

One seasonal visitor Stacey Wagner said she thinks people can smoke it but banning the sale might not be the worst idea.

"Until you can get the research that shows that your neighborhood would remain safe if the stores sold marijuana, I think they're doing a good job of saying we want to keep the vibe of vacation, safe and happy healthy families," Wagner said. "The town is allowed to restrict commerce on this until proven otherwise."

While others like Drew Davis said the beach towns banning the sale of marijuana is an missed opportunity.

"I just think it's kind of ridiculous, obviously it could be a potential source of revenue with taxing," Davis said. "If it was regulated the right way, I think all the small towns could use all the revenue they could get."

The next step in the process is to write the ordinance that would ban the sale of marijuana within town limits and that won't be ready for first reading until September or October of this year.