What a loser. Why is pandering to the looney doomsday crowd? I'd say most people really don't even care at all. Notice how he doesn't site an actual reason why he's against the dispensaries. Yes, they could potentially be across from a school. Yeah... and your point is?! A laundromat could be across from a school too. A Chinese restaurant which is actually a front for hard drugs could end up across from a school, too.

Why should churches be taken in to consideration at all with this?

"..."If the people of Melrose believe this is not the right zoning, they should come to one of these hearings and give their opinions," he said..."

No. Why do they have to come out again to vote on something they already told you they want in their city?? When people in your city or town vote 2 to 1 to make something the law you don't go ahead and question them again as if they were idiots. They know what they wanted and they voted for it; respect the will of YOUR people and do your job and follow the law that's on the books. We need leaders that have courage and the will for progress; not ignorant and incompassionate cowards that run away from what they don't know or don't understand.

"I do feel that as a defender of my community that many of those people who voted for the law, if you were to ask them if they wanted a dispense center on their corner, they would turn around and say no."..

More than 65% of voters in Melrose voted in favor of the law so how could they not want it in Melrose??? Admit that your too much of closed minded coward to tackle this issue and just leave it up to another town or city to get it's hands dirty. That's the message you give to your community, that you don't want to progress and move forward but rather take the easy way out and not have compassion for people who truly need their medicine.

Gustavo, just because someone is in favor of the law doesn't mean they want it in their backyard. Most people voted to approve the dispensaries because they feel the tax-payer money spent on fighting it and keeping it a criminalized product, isn't worth it but as the Mayor said, if you ask someone who voted "YES" to the law if they would want a dispensary in their backyard or next door, they would give a resounding "NO!".

The Mayor encourages people to come to his community meetings so he can get a better feel of the opinion of his city. If enough people felt strongly enough about something he would certainly defend their opinion. That's what Mayor's do. He isn't going to fight the majority of the population on something if they disagree with him.

If you vote for a law, you are implicitly accepting the logical consequences of it. I think dispensaries should be located using a reasoned approach. For instance, a major consideration should be to put the dispensary to best serve the people who will be using it in terms of proximity and accessibility. Is Melrose a good choice? I don't know, but it should be considered. Are there negative impacts to communities where dispensaries are located? Maybe that could be determined by looking at communities in other states that have dispensaries, and the actual issues they have (if any.) Are there any positives to having the dispensaries in terms of tax revenues? I don't know, but again, it should be considered. If it looks like our community is not an effective location, or that there are significant negative effects on the community, THAT is why it should be opposed. Not NIMBY.

Do the pharmacies in CVS and Walgreens (both on Main Street) dispense oxycodone or any other vast number of highly addictive drugs (and arguably more dangerous and destructive to the city than pot)? If so, under the Mayor's reasoning we should be looking to ban their selling in our city.

I mean a YMCA, the library, a synagogue, the high school, middle school, and a handful of churches are all within a quarter mile of these dispensaries. But it's okay because they are only dispensing drugs to people with prescriptions.

Damn, I hate it when logic and sound reasoning get in the way of a good argument.

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