Residents Divided On Opting Out Of Pot Shops In Oak Lawn

OAK LAWN, IL — The Oak Lawn Village Board’s public hearing to gather residents’ input on whether to opt out of allowing recreational pot shops in the village lasted 17 minutes. Village trustees are expected to vote on the measure at the next village board meeting on Dec. 10.

A small, but impassioned group of residents spoke out on both sides of the issue Monday evening at village hall. A few people came just to listen, with one attendee stating that he planned to go on a three-minute in support of recreational cannabis sales in Oak Lawn at the next week’s village board meeting.

To opt out of recreational pot shops before Jan. 1, 2020 when the new law goes into effect, municipalities are required to hold a public hearing it goes before it goes for a vote. Most village trustees have already indicated they would be voting against the sale of adult use marijuana sales in Oak Lawn.

Tr. Bud Stalker (Dist. 5) said conservative estimates for a modest-sized recreational dispensary could potentially generate annual revenue of $300,000 for village coffers. Whether people smoke or ingest pot in Alsip, Justice or Chicago Ridge, it’s not going to stop people from driving down Oak Lawn’s main thoroughfares.

“I’m neither for nor against marijuana,” Stalker said. “[The added revenue] of $300,000 couldd pay for a lot of policing. I’m not for or against, I just want the facts out.”

Public comments at the hearing ranged from those touting marijuana’s medicinal benefits and the potential revenue it could bring to the village to safety concerns and morality.

“I feel people already use marijuana and are going to continue to do so,” Oak Lawn resident Randy Lynn Suvado said. “Other neighboring towns are going to allow [cannabis] sales so why put money in the pockets of other towns when we can use it.”

Brian Galvin asked village trustees to consider a recreational cannabis dispensary as a new revenue stream.

“These shops will be [selling packaged cannabis],” Galvin said. “It’s not like people will be consuming it in the shops where you have to be concerned about driving under the influence.

Rick Mesknusteous said he was against bringing a recreational marijuana dispensary to Oak Lawn, “my main reason being safety.”

“They say it’s going to be packaged, and they won’t be able to consumed it there,” Mesknusteous said. “You can use that same logic with someone buying a 12-pack of beer at a liquor store and opening a can of beer and drinking it in the car.”

Long-time resident Emanuel Papadopoulos told trustees he was against a dispensary and that money shouldn’t be the primary reason for opening one in Oak Lawn.

“It’s more or less a moral issue,” he said. “There are unforeseen consequences. Oak Lawn is a nice community and family-oriented. Money shouldn’t be the main consideration. There are other ways of doing it. Having retail sales in cannabis is not the way to go.”

Anthony Perez didn’t speak during the hearing, but said he supports a pot shop in Oak Lawn. He’d love to see someone local run a recreational dispensary in the village.

“To teach that marijuana is a gateway drug is dangerous, especially when alcohol is the real problem,” Perez. “If people can go to bars than we should be allowed to go down the street and purchase marijuana to use at home without having to drive all the way to Worth to buy it.”