CCC seeks public comment of War on Drugs impact expansion
Photo | Cannabis Control Commission
Dark green indicates communities on the Cannabis Control Commission's list of disproportionately impacted areas.
The regulatory body overseeing the state’s cannabis program opened a five-week public comment period related to potentially changing its list of municipalities and census tracts considered to be areas disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs, the Cannabis Control Commission said in a Monday announcement.
The list contains 29 communities, called disproportionately impacted areas, or DIAs, and they’re used, in part, to help determine eligibility for the CCC’s economic empowerment and social equity programs. Cannabis businesses are encouraged to target these communities as part of their positive impact plans, which are required as part of the licensing process.
Central Massachusetts communities on the list include Worcester, Southbridge, Spencer, and Fitchburg.
A March study conducted by researchers at UMass and the commission itself considered a scoring system to rank state communities based on a disproportionate impact score. To determine each DI score, researchers looked at average annual number of drug arrests, average annual rate of drug arrests per 100,000 population, percent of people living in poverty, and the percent of residents who report themselves as Black and/or Latino.
The study then broke communities into a tier system, with Tier 1 being those communities with the highest DI score. Many of the 28 communities in Tier 1 were already on the CCC’s DIA list, but a significant number were not. Central Massachusetts towns appearing on the Tier 1 list who were not already on the DIA list include Webster and Leominster. In Tier 2, Marlborough and Sturbridge also appeared.
“Although the commission has not yet identified a timeline to discuss what, if any, policy changes they may make to its DIA list, this public comment period will provide critical feedback to inform future consideration of the issue,” the CCC said on Monday.
Submissions for public comment should be sent to Commission@CCCMass.com with the subject line “Public Comment: Disproportionately Impacted Areas” by 5 p.m. on March 4.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments