LETTER: 'You Have No Business Claiming Any Moral High Ground'

MILFORD, MA—The following was submitted by Bryant Hopkins. Want to get in on the conversation? Email charlene.arsenault@patch.com

Yes, Beverly Swymer, a majority of Milford voters in September voted to ban recreational marijuana facilities in town, but no, you have no business claiming any moral high ground for your side of this debate, as you did in your recent letter in the Patch.

Firstly, in April a greater number of Milford voters voted to legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts. Knowing this, Milford's current Selectmen (opponents of legalization) and their appointed subordinates - all on the taxpayer's payroll - used their authorities to rush through a one issue referendum, including the cost of reprinting the ballot because they blundered ahead of the state legislature's work, for the express purpose of minimizing debate in town in order to ensure that they got the result they sought. Even the School Department went to the senior center to show the newest version of "Reefer Madness" to seniors in order to panic them into going to the polls to do what the Selectmen - and you - wanted. There was never any reason to spend taxpayer's money on this referendum as no retail pot shop can open in Massachusetts until July 2018, so this issue could have been on the April 2018 Town ballot without additional cost. If you want to know where the money came from to push the referendum for September instead of April, it was from Milford taxpayers like you and me.

Secondly, the investment that the medicinal marijuana businesses made in this election should be commended, not criticized. The people at Sage Naturals showed their commitment to Milford by not just buying ads but getting their people out in the streets to get the word out to ban the ban, despite the Selectmen's lowbrow attempts to simply slide this issue past the majority that voted for legalizing recreational marijuana in the first place. Within a few years Sage and Pro Verde, another Milford medicinal marijuana company, will be gone from Milford, quite literally in search of greener pastures in communities that welcome their business, not attack it. The dozens of jobs that will be lost in Milford will gone directly as a result of this ban, which impairs the businesses' abilities to make profit. I am sure that Franklin, a town that supports retail sales, will welcome these businesses and the jobs that they create.

Finally, the majority of the Vote No supporters that you saw carrying signs on the streets of Milford were like me - a volunteer and a donor to the cause. We gave our time and money because we want the right to buy a legal substance and pay taxes on it in our own town, because we want our police fighting real problems like opioid addiction, and because limited government does not mean government limiting the governed.

Your claim of moral superiority is bogus but you were right about one thing; the money that supported your cause did come from Milford families, because taxpayers' money was used to fund this slap at the basic concept of free and open debate. I for one will never again vote for any of the current Selectmen for any elected office, not because they opposed retail marijuana in Milford but due to the underhanded way that they handled this referendum.

Bryant Hopkins
Milford