Pubdate: Mon, 03 Aug 2015
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bf0vhqGQ
Website: http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Becky Schlikerman

'DRY' TOWN SITE OF NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA FARM

If you want a bottle of booze in downstate Albion, you have to drive 
out of town.

But the Edwards County town of less than 2,000 residents is the site 
of a huge medical marijuana farm.

The seemingly contradictory situation has led some in town to declare 
Albion "high and dry."

And a local shop has sold dozens of T- shirts with the pithy phrase.

"The high is we're growing marijuana here in Albion," Ald. Arrol 
Stewart said with a laugh. "The dry is two of the convenience stores 
have applied for a package liquor license, and they were turned down. 
The city council voted against it."

"It's our own little protest," said Cheryl Taylor, one of the owners 
of TJ Marche, the shop that's making and selling the T- shirts.

Albion is the county seat of Edwards County, which has been dry since 
Prohibition, Albion Mayor Steve McMahel said.

Two years ago, a vote to allow liquor licenses passed by just 10 
votes, he said.

The town issued three liquor licenses to the American Legion Post, 
the Moose Lodge and the VFW post. The fraternal clubs had been 
selling liquor without a license "forever," one resident said.

But the licenses were needed to get video gambling, the mayor said.

When the convenience stores recently requested permits to sell 
package liquor, the city council voted against it, the mayor said.

The majority of aldermen, he said, "didn't think it was in the best 
interest in the city."

Stewart wasn't one of them. He hoped liquor sales would bring tax 
revenue to the town. Residents now drive about 10 miles away to buy 
their booze.

"A small town has so much trouble surviving these days," resident and 
advocate Thoma Smith said. "Why don't we get the benefit of the tax 
dollars from selling liquor?"

The issue of packaged goods has become more controversial than the 
establishment of the medical marijuana farm operated by Ataraxia. It 
began growing its plants in July.

"The medical marijuana facility is just jobs, and you can't go out 
there and buy anything," the mayor said, adding that the medicinal 
product "won't even be sold here in this county."

Stewart said people in town understand that the marijuana is for 
medical purposes. "We didn't have any dissension about marijuana 
here. Just the alcohol," he said.

Though the tongue-in-cheek tees have generated a buzz, they won't be 
in stock forever.

Taylor said the shop has done its last printing of the $ 12 shirts, 
which former Albion residents have ordered from around the country.

"How Disney puts their movies in the vault," she said. "We're finally 
putting those in the vault."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom