Woodstock city council gave the green light Thursday to retail cannabis stores in the Friendly City before the provincial deadline of Jan. 22.

But even with a staff report supporting the “opt-in” option, councillors remained divided on the decision.

“This was so foreign to me. I’ve done a lot of research and, because it’s part of our society, whether we like it or not, I’m in belief we have to embrace it,” Coun. Jerry Acchione said. “It’s part of the local economy, so who are we to stop business.”

Coun. Deb. Tait, though, was emphatic in casting her vote against the possibility of legal cannabis stores in Woodstock.

“I’m never going to be supportive of it. It doesn’t matter to me that it’s legal. I’ve seen the affects and I don’t want it in my city,” she said. “I know they can get it anywhere, so go get it somewhere else. I know we’d lose out on tax money and other revenue, but not interested in it.”

The federal government officially legalized cannabis on Oct. 17, 2018, through the Cannabis Act, with each provincial and territorial government given control of actual marijuana sales. The Ontario government launched its own online cannabis store to coincide with legalization while delaying the licensed brick-and-mortal retail outlets until April 1, 2019.

The province’s Cannabis Licence Act allows municipalities to opt out of having retail pot stores within their borders until Jan. 22, the deadline to notify the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Any municipality that opts out can later reverse its decision but, once allowed, can’t go back.

Due to reported supply issues, the AGCO only awarded 25 store licences in its first phase. The AGCO lottery allowed seven licences in the western region, a huge area that stretches from the Niagra region to Windsor. The AGCO received 17,320 applicants, and regional entries reached 59,069 since applicants could express interest in five regions.

The first phase only allows retail stores in municipalities with a population of at least 50,000, so no Oxford County jurisdiction actually qualifies.

Coun. Ron Fraser, a former Woodstock police chief, also said he wasn’t in favour of retail cannabis stores in Woodstock but was supportive of free enterprise.

“I don’t embrace. I’m not in favour of it, but it’s here – federally, provincially. I’ve been very torn which way to go with this. … It’s something I believe we don’t want in the downtown core,” he said.

Fraser also voiced a concern of these retail stores being near schools but verified with the city clerk they weren’t permitted within a specified distance.

“I’m not trying to stop free enterprise, but it’s something I believe is important of where it’s located, … I don’t believe in it, but you can buy it online, get it shipped to you or drive to nearly any place,” Fraser added. “At least the government will keep control of it and the other stuff moving in with it.”

The staff report said the province has committed $40 million to municipalities over the next two years to help with costs associated with implementing cannabis legalization. Municipalities that opt in are eligible to receive a greater part of the funding. If the provincial government receives more than $100 million from federal cannabis excise tax over the next two years, half that surplus will be shared with municipalities that have opted in.

In the staff report, the Woodstock Police Service recognized the new legislation and supported council’s decision.

In Oxford, the opt-in or opt-out choices have dominated the decision making early in the new municipal term. East Zorra- Tavistock, Norwich, Ingersoll and Blandford-Blenheim have opted out while South-West Oxford and Zorra have opted in.

“The climate that our council was making the decision was, ‘this is legal now in Canada,’ and this is the framework that the province of Ontario has decided to roll it out in,” Zorra Mayor Marcus Ryan told the Sentinel-Review last week.

“Eventually it’s going to be legal everywhere in Canada, and Zorra council felt they had the controls in place to do it now, with some funding to make it more feasible,” he added.

gcolgan@postmedia.com