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GLENVILLE — Plans to introduce legislation allowing retail marijuana sales in town are on hold for the foreseeable future as lawmakers continue to assess the impacts of the state’s budding marijuana industry.
Supervisor Chris Koetzle said Friday town lawmakers are examining where, if at all, dispensaries would fit within town in order to avoid negative long-term impacts associated with the facilities. He noted that Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy and City Council President Marion Porterfield have both recently raised concerns about the location of a dispensary that opened on Upper Union Street in April.
“We do not want to make that mistake,” Koetzle said. “This is why we’re really slowing this down. We’re really looking at it.”
Town lawmakers for months have been discussing legislation to allow marijuana sales in certain parts of town after agreeing to opt-out of letting dispensaries and on-site consumption facilities to open in 2021 over concerns about a lack of state regulations at the time.
State lawmakers approved the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act in 2021, which legalized marijuana for adult-use and established the framework for tax structure for marijuana sales. The law also