Six speakers voiced opinions either for or against recreational cannabis dispensaries Tuesday at the Aurora Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting in City Hall. Anthony Marsico, left, spoke on behalf of the Zen Leaf dispensary brand that holds cannabis licenses in Illinois and nationally. He said in Aurora and other suburbs there has been a distortion of the facts to undermine the State’s new adult-use cannabis law. The theory of cannabis being a gateway drug has been debunked several times. The real gateway drug that has destroyed families and taken lives has been the legal and regulated prescribed opioids that have come from the medical community. Tzuyi Sun, right, resident of Aurora, was one of several speakers on behalf of the Opt Out group said we could learn from our Canadian neighbors about how the black market business has never been better and many legal stores could not compete. She said the legal retail price is more than $10 Canadian dollars per gram while the black market price is less than $6 Canadian dollars per gram. The City of Aurora Law Department and Zoning and Planning Division are using the following proposed guidelines: The State Act limits dispensaries from locating within 1,500 feet of another dispensary. Only dispensaries will be open to the public and State has limited the amount of dispensaries to the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin area, which includes Aurora, to 47 dispensaries. Limited to four dispensaries, two of which will be reserved for social equity candidates in the Disproportionately Impacted Areas as outlined by the State. Non-social equity applicants must establish a minimum of two years of cannabis sales experience (either as a medical dispensary in Illinois, or, as a recreational dispensary in another state). Must be located on an arterial street as shown on the City of Aurora’s Comprehensive Plan. A minimum of 750 feet distance from grade school, middle school, alternative school, and high school. No onsite consumption of cannabis. Operating hours not earlier than 8 a.m. and not later than 10 p.m. As part of the Special Use, the applicants would need to provide a plan for disposal, a security plan, a copy of the operating procedures and the names and location of the cultivation facilities associated with cannabis dispensaries. A vote is set for Tuesday. Jason Crane/The Voice