ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.

I still resolutely urge the Wayland City Council to permit the sale and distribution of the now legal product marijuana within the city limits.

The council and City Manager Josh Eggleston have indicated they plan to formulate policy on this issue soon and I continue to support allowing a local business to sell it under guidelines approved by the city.

Just how pro-business does the city want to be?

About eight months ago, I suggested the council honor the “Rios Rule” in which Dorr Township Trustee Terri Rios argued that because 57% of township voters opposed the state-wide proposal last November to legalize recreational marijuana, it should be forbidden to be bought or sold locally. She said it was a matter of honoring the wishes of Dorr Township voters, regardless of the state-wide results, which showed 56% approval.

That same election last year showed that 58% of voters in the City of Wayland approved the proposal. So conversely, the City Council should allow the substance to be bought, sold and regulated in town, at least at one location.

Some City Council members already have indicated they won’t approve, but by doing so they are imposing their own personal morality against the majority of their constituents. Such actions are futile. It’s bad public policy for officials to insist everybody else live by their personal moral rules, yet a majority don’t agree.

The knee-jerk reaction from Dorr, Watson, Leighton and Martin officials in the wake of the state-wide ballot proposal legalizing marijuana is based on their personal fears and being morally offended. It’s bad public policy because, as I have opined before, if you can’t legislate… regulate.

Marijuana will be bought and sold regardless of what City Council members think about having it done within the city. If it is not permitted here, then those who want it will go elsewhere to get it, or even worse, they’ll obtain the substance under the table to keep alive the previously robust black market. It would be much better to have it bought and sold in a public place, regulated strictly in a way similar to rules governing alcohol.

Furthermore, permitting it would demonstrate a willingness to support a legal business in the community.

I also urge the City Council to ban public use of marijuana simply because citizens should not be subjected to smoke in the public arena. Therefore, just like in Colorado Springs, those who wish to use this legal product will be restricted to residences and properties where they have been granted permission.

Of course, use of marijuana while operating a motor vehicle should be illegal and regulated just like driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Horse and buggy thinking based on fear and loathing will do nothing to stop use of pot. Its Prohibition Era has ended.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Much of this editorial was written eight months ago, but it was updated because the city will decide on this matter soon.