Retail marijuana dispensaries may be coming to Mansfield.
Following two months of discussion, debate and impassioned pleas on both sides of the issue, Mansfield City Council voted 5-3 on Tuesday night not to impose a six-month moratorium on marijuana dispensaries.
Council members Laura Burns, Cheryl Meier, Aurelio Diaz, Stephanie Zader and David Falquette voted against the moratorium.
Colleagues El Akuchie, Cynthia Antoinette Daley and Deborah Mount voted to impose it, trying to ban the dispensaries from selling in the city.
The vote followed about an hour of comments from members of the public. About 50 people packed city council chambers, with 24 of them addressing the council. Of those who spoke, 16 supported a moratorium, and eight were against it.
Zader made an emotional pitch against the moratorium.
“I’m the only one up here with a drug history, or the only to admit it, at least,” the at-large councilwoman said. “I grew up in drug houses. My mother is still an addict.”
Zader said her mother’s drug of choice has been crack cocaine.
“I’ve been attacked and assaulted many times by my mom when she has been under the influence of (crack),” Zader said. “However, I’ve never been attacked by her when she’s been under the influence of