A Jackson Town Councilman is encouraging political leaders in Wyoming to decriminalize marijuana.
Jim Rooks spoke at Monday’s Jackson Town Council meeting after a resident spoke out about the issue.
Rooks mentioned that resident Zach Padilla had asked the council to seriously consider a statement on behalf of our community supporting the decriminalization of marijuana and the approval of medical marijuana in the state.
Rooks said he thought it was a serious issue and noted that the idea came before the Wyoming state legislature recently and they failed to act at a time that money generated from marijuana could have helped the state’s $500 million dollar education deficit.
Rooks noted that both of his parents suffered from cancer and could have benefited from medical marijuana as an alternative to opioid pain medications.
He said that we know what pharmaceutical painkillers are doing to this nation while science has proven that medical marijuana was a far better treatment.
Rooks said the state was missing out on millions of dollars annually in tax revenue while neighboring states like Colorado and Montana have legalized pot.
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