In Maryland, the Prince George’s County Council couldn’t agree on tightening the rules for cannabis dispensaries on Wednesday.
A bill was in front of the council that would have limited where cannabis dispensaries could be located in the county to industrial areas and business parks.
The bill needed six votes to pass, but only got five. One council member voted against it and two council members abstained.
The majority of the residents who spoke at the meeting were in favor of the bill.
“Think of the youth and teenagers, the effect on their brain functioning,” said resident Julia Baltimore. “Cannabis is destroying our youth and teenagers.”
“The locations that will be most effected in our county are not the neighborhoods with sprawling one acre and half acre lots,” Abdullah Hijazi said. “But it will be in our more dense and low income communities inside the beltway, in commercial centers, closer to our homes where we already have a proliferation of liquor stores and tobacco stores.”
Jameel Aalim-Johnson, president of the Prince George’s County Muslim Council, also chimed in with concerns.
“Communities like ours take on too many vices, as what happens in many minority communities,” Aalim-Johnson said. “We say it’s