Be like Uxbridge
The moment the ballot initiative passed in November 2016 allowing for recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, economic development officials across the state should have been sharpening their pencils. When the formerly black market industry was legalized in other states, it created billions in revenues and millions in taxes. As the Massachusetts industry has been getting up and running, municipal officials should have been figuring out how to best get a piece of that action.
Instead, what the majority of Massachusetts communities did was panic with a series of not-in-my-backyard restrictions. More than half have passed temporary moratoriums or bans, according to the Massachusetts Municipal Association, even if the majority of voters in their communities favored the ballot initiative. The result has been most communities have been unreceptive when businesses come calling, or unprepared for the challenges the controversial industry creates. For example, Northbridge didn't have proper zoning set up when it began to field inquiries, and Charlton town officials are divided in the legal battle with a proposed 1-million-square-foot manufacturing facility.
But a few communities have figured out how to be opportunistic and add to their tax bases, like Uxbridge, which is home to the state's first small business cannabis owner in Caroline Frankel, and has signed agreements with eight other operators. As Staff Writer Zachary Comeau notes in his article, Uxbridde officials didn't have to do much to entice those businesses. When entrepreneurs like Frankel came calling, they simply listened and offered help and encouragement.
Larger cities like Worcester were always going to get a healthy number of marijuana business applying for the limited number of licenses. And like Uxbridge, Worcester was proactive in courting the industry and is even outpacing Boston for the number of host community agreements and open retail stores. But that level of industry was never guaranteed for a community like Uxbridge, which has struggled to establish a new economic footprint as its industrial sector faced an inevitable decline.
Athol, too, has been more open-handed with the marijuana industry, and cannabis cultivator MassGrow LLC has fulfilled Town Manager Shaun Suhoski's five-year-old goal to find an occupant for the Union Twist Drill building, which the manufacturing firm left more than 30 years ago.
By being ready and welcoming, communities like Uxbridge and Athol have positioned themselves as frontrunners as recreational marijuana moves out of its startup phase. Although the rollout has been slower in Massachusetts compared to other states with legalized cannabis, those other states have proven there is a limit to how much the marijuana industry can grow, which can lead to a reduction in viable businesses. A business with a longer history of operating in Massachusetts will have a better chance of surviving and thriving in the industry than those coming later to the game.
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