Whether or not to allow the sale of cannabis dominated the discussion of the Village of Woodridge board meeting on Oct. 17. Three members of the public, all opposed to the sale of cannabis, shared their comments and asked members of the board what they planned to do in response to the legalization of selling cannabis.

Tom Zhang, the first to comment at the podium, shared his fear that selling cannabis in Woodridge would negatively affect teens in the area. He asked that board members consider their role in the lives of younger community members when making their decision. 

“There’s an old saying that it takes a whole village to raise a kid. Let Woodridge be the village to give us, our kids and our next generation brighter and better futures,” Zhang said. 

Lanhua Hu then took to the podium to ask the board what their position was on the sale of cannabis. Hu felt that in her experience many members of the board had not shared its stance with the public, leaving villagers in the dark about their opinions. Hu was also the only member of the public to reference statistics within her allotted time, statistics which she urged members to look at when analyzing the effects of cannabis sales.

“I want the board and the mayor to take into consideration the history, the data here,” Hu said. “People who support this will talk about how allowing the sales is no different now that it’s legalized. I wanted to say, it does make a difference because accessibility matters.”

Mayor Gina Cunningham-Picek interjected between comments to remind villagers that the Village of Woodridge would be hosting an event that invited an expert from the field of adult-use cannabis to share a presentation with the board which will center around the expert’s experience with adult-use cannabis sales in Colorado.

“Many of the board members have been asking for more information on top of the information we have already been provided, which has been extensive. I think people are waiting for that presentation from the expert,” Cunningham-Picek said. 

The final member of the community to comment was Alex Leventis. Leventis surveyed 12 members of the community who he believed to be active members in local events. All 12 people were opposed to the sale of cannabis in Woodridge. 

All members of the community are invited to attend the presentation on adult-use cannabis on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at Woodridge Village Hall at 7:15 p.m.