ADAMS, Mass. — Weed is weighing heavy on the minds of some town officials.

Although the Selectmen unanimously voted Wednesday to request the Planning Board draft a medical marijuana zoning bylaw, some members were hesitant to start the process.

Selectman Joseph Nowak was not among them. He has been urging his colleagues to pursue a bylaw that would allow a medical marijuana dispensary.

"My thinking is if we can do anything to help people that are in need of any type of relief we should, and medical marijuana is not a cure but it relieves symptoms in people with particular ailments," he said. "I just think it is something we as a community we have to look into."

He added that the nearest dispensary is in Northampton and if Adams had one, it would make it easier for Berkshire County residents to fill their prescriptions and could potentially bring more people into town.

Selectman Richard Blanchard agreed that it may be good to have a bylaw in place but said he felt it would not be a good fit for the town.

"My concern is we are marketing Adams as the outdoor recreation place, and also with the J.K. Rowling thing that has come about I don't know if this is the right fit," he said. "It may be counterproductive ... I am not personally convinced it would be a good thing for Adams."

Selectmen John Duval and Arthur "Skip" Harrington said they would favor drafting a bylaw because medical marijuana is legal and a bylaw would allow the town to regulate it, however, they were concerned and felt that marijuana is a gateway drug could lead to problems.

"It has been known to be a gateway drug and I am very concerned about that," Harrington said. "It is very disheartening and it can be devastating to families and communities ... I don't want to see that happen in Adams. I know we already have problems with substance abuse."

Nowak said he felt that it was not a gateway drug.

"The problem right now is with kids the first step they go to is heroin because it's cheap," he said. "Kids may not have a lot of money so they go to heroin ... if kids smoked marijuana first they probably would get the kick they wanted ... with heroin, they can get a bag for $10. They poke up once and they are hooked."

Police Chief Richard Tarsa felt medical marijuana could open up a Pandora's box.

"I would not be doing my job as the chief of police if I sat there and not spoken up," Tarsa said. "There is a lot of fallout involved with this, and I am only scratching the surface ... I would not be doing my job if I didn't come forward and say this is a bad idea for Adams."

He added that he felt it was a gateway drug and said there is a lot of research to prove this.

"Everyone in this room knows somebody growing up that starts smoking marijuana ... they go from marijuana to coke to crack then back to marijuana and it skyrockets," Tarsa said. "Some of the people I have known that have gone through this I have no idea where they are. Their families don't even know here they are."

He said he had attended a few presentations where he learned that marijuana is addictive and damages the brain.

He added that it may be impossible for the town to even have a dispensary because state law prohibits a facility to be within 500 feet of a school, park, or day-care facility.  

"You have parks located from one end of the border to the other and it is 500 feet from each border to the possible dispensary," he said. "Then you throw in the schools ... if you look at the geography of Adams ... I think it would be hard to find a location for this thing."

Chairman Jeffrey Snoonian said this would be for the Planning Board to figure out.

Tarsa added that there is really no way for the officers to conduct field sobriety tests on those driving under the influence. Unlike with alcohol, they do not have this training and there is really no procedure in place.  

Snoonian said the conversation was getting off track and that they should not be debating the impact of marijuana but if the Planning Board should move forward.

"This has nothing to do with legalizing marijuana. We are not talking about opening up a weed store. We are talking about crafting a bylaw for medical marijuana and we control that," he said.

He added that November's general eleciton ballot will have a question that could legalize the drug for recreational use, but that also had nothing to do with the current debate.

Community Development Director Donna Cesan, filling in for Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco, said the Planning Board has already approached this subject and has gone through BRPC workshops to prepare for this.

She said they were unable to craft a bylaw because there were staffing issues in community development.

Planning Board member Barbara Ziemba said she felt it was the right time to pursue a bylaw. She added that not having a bylaw would take all power away from the town if someone wanted to open a dispensary.

"It is time to revisit this. I think it is important to do it," she said. "If we don't have a bylaw then someone could come in and kind of do what they want possibly so I think we do need to do something."

Cesan noted that this will be the beginning of a long process with plenty of time for debate

"If the town wants to pass a bylaw it has to go through a very rigorous meeting and public hearing process so I think there is going to be a lot of debate," she said. "I think this is going to be a long process."