Marijuana, Money Questions Face Edgartown Voters at Town Meetings

New rules prohibiting the use of voter-approved medical marijuana are likely to be the most controversial articles on the warrants for Edgartown's tandem town meetings Tuesday.

The warrant for the special town meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Old Whaling Church on Main Street, includes

• a ban on smoking marijuana, or ingesting it in any other way, on town property, even where tobacco smoking is permitted
• a year-long moratorium on establishing medical marijuana dispensaries in Edgartown

The moratorium is opposed by medical marijuana advocates who say it will keep sick people from having access to a safe and legal prescription medication and that the state will soon have rules in place to control dispensary abuse.

It is supported by town officials who say Edgartown needs to see what the state decides before making its own determination on whether and where to permit a medical marijuana facility.

The proposed moratorium on dispensaries, called by the state Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (MMTCs) does not prohibit patients with medical pot prescriptions from designating individual caregivers to grow and provide marijuana to them, independently of a dispensary operation.

Tandem meeting with two warrants

The special town meeting warrant is separate from the annual town meeting warrant because it includes articles for which money must be spent in the current fiscal year. Two examples:

• $50,000 from the Community Preservation Unreserved Fund to relocate the electrical box from the front to the back of the Edgartown Public Library as a part of the historical restoration project on North Water Street.
• $6,000 from free cash for the police department's new emergency command center and training facility, on top of $85,000 voters approved at last year's annual town meeting.

Please see the attached pdfs for the warrants for both the special town meeting and the annual town meeting, which covers the fiscal year ahead.

Immediately following the special town meeting, which will kick off with a Boy Scout-led flag salute, the annual town meeting will commence with a poem by poet laureate Steve Ewing.

This meeting's warrant has fewer articles — 54 in all — than in recent years, said town administrator Pam Dolby.

According to town counsel Ron Rappaport, "it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot there that should cause controversy."

What town meeting articles are most important to you? Tell us in the comments.

Following the town meeting Tuesday, Edgartown voters will have till Thursday to think it all over: The town election runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 11 at Town Hall.

Oak Bluffs, Tisbury and West Tisbury are also holding their annual town meetings Tuesday: Oak Bluffs' is at the high school performing arts center Tisbury's at 215 Spring Street and West Tisbury's is at the WT School gym.

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