To the editor:
Kudos to Westport's Planning Board, Selectman and other officials who approved Westport's first medical marijuana facility to be constructed on State Road. I strongly approve of this measure for two reasons:

1) As a handicapped individual with a spinal cord injury, I use medical marijuana to relieve severe nerve pain that pulses through my legs and does not respond to any other standard medications. Chronic debilitating pain is a medical condition that affects over 20 million U.S. adults and very difficult to treat. For some, medical marijuana is the only solution for relief.

2) With local government budgets decimated by the pandemic, now is the time to find other tax revenue streams. Westport is expecting approximately a $500,000 deficit to our town budget and marijuana sales will help raise needed funds. We need to think "out of the box" for new ways to raise municipal funds.

I find the argument that marijuana is a "gateway" drug to be baseless.Studies have shown that "the majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other 'harder' substances" (National Institute on Drug Abuse).

Coastal Healing will be required to follow the very stringent regulations set up by the state and Westport officials. I, for one, feel confident that there will be no major issues affecting the welfare of Westport citizens.

Martin Costa

Westport