[Baltimore Sun] Carroll official gets ‘a little blunt’ during split vote on accepting state cannabis sales revenue
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Carroll County Commissioners’ President Ken Kiler lashed out at public commenters during a county meeting Thursday, then apologized for being “a little blunt,” and explained that he gets sensitive when he’s “disrespected.”
The heated meeting was held Thursday morning to determine how the county would use tax revenue it received from the state’s Community Reinvestment Repair Fund, which distributes proceeds from the sale of recreational marijuana. So far, the county has received its first quarterly payment of $84,618 from the state.
As Kiler explained the benefits of accepting the money, some residents who disagreed with his comments shook their heads. This led Kiler to become angry, as he tried to make his point.
“I don’t quite understand, and no offense to anybody, why we wouldn’t take the money to use it to fight the problems [marijuana use] causes,” Kiler said. “Shake your heads all you want. I listened to you. I did not shake my head. I listened to you. If you want sit there, you want to throw the chair at me, I don’t much give a s***. I’m going to speak my opinion. I get allowed to do it, too.”
The Board of Carroll County Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve the creation of a local ordinance establishing eligible uses for the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund money. The state allows the funds to be used for mental health, education and after-school programs, housing, adult professional development, economic development, entrepreneurship, workforce development and training.
District 3 Commissioner Thomas Gordon III, District 5 Commissioner Ed Rothstein and Kiler, who represents District 2, voted to accept the funding. District 1 Commissioner Joe Vigliotti and District 4 Commissioner Michael Guerin voted in opposition.
Next, Kiler apologized to those in attendance.
“I apologize if I was too blunt,” he said. “I consider everybody in this room friends. Some of the people who testified are friends. We differ in our opinions and I respect that. … I’m weak. I get sensitive when I’m disrespected. So, sorry if I was a little blunt.”
Commissioners have been vocal about their opposition to the sale of recreational marijuana, and on Thursday were clearly divided on whether to accept state funding generated from marijuana sales.
“I’m not in favor of doing this, and it’s not withstanding any of the reasons why these sorts of funding can be used,” Vigliotti said. “But I disagree with the nature of the cause of the funding. As I mentioned last time, I think there’s a tragic irony to the idea of using tax revenue from legalized drugs to pay for solutions for the problems caused or exasperated by that legalization of those drugs.”
As of July 1 2023, Maryland residents 21 and older can legally use, possess and consume up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis flower, 12 grams of concentrated cannabis, or a total amount of cannabis products that does not exceed 750 mg of THC. This amount is known as the “personal use amount.”
Maryland imposes a 9% state sales tax on adult-use cannabis. Per Maryland statute, 35% of the proceeds are allocated to the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund, which supports communities disproportionately affected by prior cannabis prohibition enforcement.
In the 2023 General Assembly session, lawmakers passed legislation authorizing the state fund to distribute money to communities that a new state Office of Social Equity, in consultation with the attorney general, determines were “the most impacted by disproportionate enforcement of the cannabis prohibition before July 1, 2022.” The social equity office is charged with promoting full participation in the cannabis industry, especially involving people from such communities.
Before the vote Celene Steckel, director of the county’s Department of Citizen Services, tried to clarify what the commissioners were voting on: “I just wanted to clarify, this ordinance is to establish [a] fund, and then the eligible uses of the fund and the money. This isn’t an ordinance regarding the legal use of recreational cannabis.”
Commissioners have yet to adopt a zoning ordinance regulating marijuana sales in the county. The ordinance has been drafted by the Carroll County Planning Commission, and a public hearing was held.
Guerin has been a leading voice on the board against allowing recreational cannabis to be sold in the county’s jurisdiction. On Thursday, he explained his opposition to accepting the state’s cannabis tax revenue.
“I’m opposed to doing this at this time,” Guerin said. “I would be willing to make a motion to table it for further consideration, based on the fact that the Board of County Commissioners hasn’t taken up the issue of the sale within its jurisdiction.
“…What also concerns me is, this is going to be a mess,” he said. “This is going to be a mess for Maryland. Given what’s at stake and how truly bad things are going to get, and you can see that already in other states. It’s not like you have to guess what may be down the pike. I just think this particular action right now arguably is putting the cart before the horse.”
Steckel then answered Gordon’s question, as to what would happen to the tax revenue if the county voted to not accept it. The money would go back to the state and be allocated to other jurisdictions, she said.
“I hear both my colleague’s thoughts and opinions without question,” Gordon said. “We’re in a very interesting position with this topic. We didn’t ask for it to be put in front of us, but you know 59% of the county voted for the [legalization of recreational marijuana].
“The state then decided to pass what they passed regarding this,” he said. “… We don’t live in a bubble. People in Carroll County can go to Baltimore or another county [for recreational cannabis] if we were not to approve this. They could go to Frederick, and they could go elsewhere in the state of Maryland, and they still have that ability to use recreational cannabis. I’m not getting into the pros or cons. I’m just pointing that out.”
Finally, Rothstein said he is educating himself on recreational cannabis, and has visited a retail store where it is sold. He said that retail sales of marijuana are “cleaner” and more “controlled,” than what is sold on the black market, where it can be laced with other drugs.
“It’s legal,” he said. “We will discuss the zoning of how to provide the legalization of retail for recreational and medical marijuana in Carroll County. We will have that conversation. But this intent of let’s not do it here, but you can cross the line and get it over there, and then bring it back. To me that’s more dangerous. I’d rather someone who is going to use marijuana, whether medical or recreational, do it in the safety of their own home.
“Why would I want to turn down money to help mental health?” he asked. “Every dollar we can get for mental and behavioral health, I’m all for.”
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