Islip Town Board wants more input on marijuana dispensaries
Supporters and opponents of a propoal to allow marijuana dispenseries in Islip occupied nearly every seat at Tuesday evening's Town Board meeting. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
Supporters and opponents of legal marijuana dispensaries lined up to speak and filled the seats late Tuesday at an Islip Town Board meeting where members weighed whether to allow lawful weed sales before holding off on a final decision.
Four board members voted in favor of tabling the measure and a fifth abstained after members of the public lined up to speak about it until just after 8 p.m., nearly three hours after the meeting had been scheduled to begin.
"There are some council members who are considering opting in because of the tax dollars. That would be a terrible mistake. It would endanger our ... students,” said Debra Cavanagh, Central Islip School Board vice president.
"Brains are not fully developed until the age of 25," Cavanagh told the board. "Tax dollars are not worth the lives of our children.”
The board said they were tabling the measure until July to allow residents more time to give input and review the policy proposal.
Council member John Lorenzo, a registered Conservative who’s spearheading the dispensary push, abstained from voting. He has cited the amount of revenue other nearby towns are raking in from the industry. For instance, Newsday has reported that Babylon generated about $2.6 million from the industry in 2024 alone, according to data from the Suffolk County Comptroller's Office.
Islip’s town board originally voted against dispensaries when New York State legalized recreational cannabis in 2021. But last month, four of the board’s five members voted to revisit that decision, and a majority of those officials have since signaled their support for legal marijuana sales.
The Bay Shore Chamber of Commerce’s leadership, before Tuesday’s meeting, unanimously voted to oppose the cannabis policy change, saying "financial gain should not come at the cost of public health, safety, and the character of our community.”
Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter, the only staunch cannabis opponent on the board, shared a similar sentiment after voting against revisiting the policy last month. She argued that it would “jeopardize the health and welfare of our youth.”
But supporters of retail cannabis on Tuesday countered by arguing legalization would boost consumer and community safety through regulation.
"I want to make sure that our children don’t have access to cannabis products. I want to make sure illicit shops are shut down in our town,” said Gahrey Ovalle, the president of the Long Island Cannabis Coalition, told the board. "Legal cannabis retail addresses many of those issues. Cannabis retail shops are mandated by the state to prevent access to children."
Council members Michael McElwee, a Republican, and Democrat Jorge Guadrón have also backed the legalization effort. Both have made similar arguments to Ovalle’s, citing the product regulation at legal dispensaries that does not exist in illegal shops.
Islip Councilman James O’Connor, who remained undecided on the dispensary question Tuesday evening, told Newsday last month that public health arguments may hold less water now than they did in 2021 because of the proliferation of retail cannabis throughout Long Island.
Another speaker at Tuesday’s meeting, Ben Herbst, echoed that point when appealing to the board to allow retail cannabis.
"Islip is flanked by two municipalities that allow legal cannabis sales that are currently delivering into Islip. So, the town is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxable revenue for not having a legal option,” Herbst said. "Not allowing a legal dispensary in Islip has no effect on resident consumption — only the revenue that Islip receives.”
CORRECTION: John Lorenzo is registered with the Conservative Party. An earlier version of this story misstated his political party affiliation.
Supporters and opponents of legal marijuana dispensaries lined up to speak and filled the seats late Tuesday at an Islip Town Board meeting where members weighed whether to allow lawful weed sales before holding off on a final decision.
Four board members voted in favor of tabling the measure and a fifth abstained after members of the public lined up to speak about it until just after 8 p.m., nearly three hours after the meeting had been scheduled to begin.
"There are some council members who are considering opting in because of the tax dollars. That would be a terrible mistake. It would endanger our ... students,” said Debra Cavanagh, Central Islip School Board vice president.
"Brains are not fully developed until the age of 25," Cavanagh told the board. "Tax dollars are not worth the lives of our children.”
The board said they were tabling the measure until July to allow residents more time to give input and review the policy proposal.
Council member John Lorenzo, a registered Conservative who’s spearheading the dispensary push, abstained from voting. He has cited the amount of revenue other nearby towns are raking in from the industry. For instance, Newsday has reported that Babylon generated about $2.6 million from the industry in 2024 alone, according to data from the Suffolk County Comptroller's Office.
Islip’s town board originally voted against dispensaries when New York State legalized recreational cannabis in 2021. But last month, four of the board’s five members voted to revisit that decision, and a majority of those officials have since signaled their support for legal marijuana sales.
The Bay Shore Chamber of Commerce’s leadership, before Tuesday’s meeting, unanimously voted to oppose the cannabis policy change, saying "financial gain should not come at the cost of public health, safety, and the character of our community.”
Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter, the only staunch cannabis opponent on the board, shared a similar sentiment after voting against revisiting the policy last month. She argued that it would “jeopardize the health and welfare of our youth.”
But supporters of retail cannabis on Tuesday countered by arguing legalization would boost consumer and community safety through regulation.
"I want to make sure that our children don’t have access to cannabis products. I want to make sure illicit shops are shut down in our town,” said Gahrey Ovalle, the president of the Long Island Cannabis Coalition, told the board. "Legal cannabis retail addresses many of those issues. Cannabis retail shops are mandated by the state to prevent access to children."
Council members Michael McElwee, a Republican, and Democrat Jorge Guadrón have also backed the legalization effort. Both have made similar arguments to Ovalle’s, citing the product regulation at legal dispensaries that does not exist in illegal shops.
Islip Councilman James O’Connor, who remained undecided on the dispensary question Tuesday evening, told Newsday last month that public health arguments may hold less water now than they did in 2021 because of the proliferation of retail cannabis throughout Long Island.
Another speaker at Tuesday’s meeting, Ben Herbst, echoed that point when appealing to the board to allow retail cannabis.
"Islip is flanked by two municipalities that allow legal cannabis sales that are currently delivering into Islip. So, the town is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxable revenue for not having a legal option,” Herbst said. "Not allowing a legal dispensary in Islip has no effect on resident consumption — only the revenue that Islip receives.”
CORRECTION: John Lorenzo is registered with the Conservative Party. An earlier version of this story misstated his political party affiliation.
Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
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