Central Mass. towns reject recreational pot, at least for now
PHOTO/FILE
Central Massachusetts cities and towns aren't waiting for the legalization of pot shops to go into effect before taking action to delay or ban retail pot stores.
Westborough Town Planner Jim Robbins said the town passed a ban in order to protect the welfare of the community.
Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus
Northbridge Town Manager Theodore Kozak
Voters statewide approved a new law legalizing recreational marijuana last November, but cities and towns aren't waiting for the legalization of pot shops to go into effect before taking action to delay or ban indefinitely any such stores.
Two Central Massachusetts towns, Sutton and Westborough, have taken the most drastic steps, choosing to ban – or opt out, in the language of the law – such facilities. Others, including Ashland, Grafton, Holden, Hopkinton, Millbury and Northbridge, have passed moratoriums to give themselves more time to set up zoning and other restrictions for shops they worry could harm the character of neighborhoods or bring unwanted activity.
“We decided that in order to protect the welfare of the community and do what we felt was the most harm, that we would ban it,” said Jim Robbins, the Westborough town planner.
Westborough was not among the towns with a majority of residents voting in favor of the new recreational marijuana law at the ballot last fall, and its residents have overwhelmingly approved both a ban at the ballot box and a moratorium at Town Meeting. Both passed by more than 4-to-1 margins, with the dual actions taken as a precaution to make sure pot-shop applicants can't work their way through a permitting process while the state Legislature continues working out a follow-up bill tweaking the law.
Town officials in other Central Massachusetts said they didn't wait until further action in the State House before making a move themselves. Shrewsbury Town Meeting approved a moratorium through Nov. 15, 2018, and Grafton passed a moratorium it'll reconsider at its fall 2018 Town Meeting.
“We're in a limbo until exactly what we know the Legislature is doing,” said Northbridge Town Manager Theodore Kozak, whose town passed a moratorium stopping any pot shops from opening before Nov. 30, 2018.
Northborough Town Planner Kathryn Joubert said the town, which passed a moratorium at its April Town Meeting, wanted time to find an appropriate district and site plan review process for pot shops as it does with other businesses.
“As a planner, I have to look at it like any other kind of land use,” she said.
Respecting the ballot box
Bill Downing, an activist with the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the pro-pot advocacy group doesn't oppose communities deciding to put moratoriums in place, but thinks the decision should lie with voters. By letting people vote at the ballot box instead of in front of their neighbors at a town meeting, he said, voters can go with their feelings without fear of stigma.
“There's often an awful lot more support for our issue when people are able to vote in the privacy of a ballot box,” Downing said. When someone has to get up to speak on the issue in front of others, it's different, he added.
“You're immediately shunned,” Downing said. “Because in public, everyone's a drug warrior. And in private, people realize the drug war is a sham.”
No pot shops will open in Massachusetts before July of next year. Even after 54 percent of voters approved recreational marijuana last November, the state Legislature and Gov. Charlie Baker voted soon after to push back the date for when shops can open from the original January 2018 date. Until then, possession of up to 1 ounce of pot and growing at home are still legal.
Legislators have been considering how to pass their own bill determining taxes on marijuana sales, and whether local boards of selectmen would be given the power to ban stores, instead of requiring a referendum vote from residents. A recent House bill was pulled after negative feedback.
Potential ban in Worcester
Worcester hasn't yet taken action, but the City Council voted last month to have the city administration prepare a draft ordinance for a potential ban. In the meantime, City Manager Edward Augustus said he's been advocating to the Legislature for cities and towns to have maximum flexibility in how they can best regulate such shops.
Regulation is needed “so we can make judgments that we feel are in the best interests of the city of Worcester,” Augustus said. City residents approved the new law with nearly 55 percent of the vote.
Several options exist for communities, according to Worcester City Solicitor David Moore, the head of the city's Law Department. It could limit the number of recreational marijuana permits to 20 percent of liquor licenses (which would be 15, in Worcester's case), limit recreational permits to less than the number of medical marijuana facilities permitted (five in Worcester's case), or an outright prohibition, which is more likely to be challenged on its legality.
City councilors haven't indicated which direction they want to go, but Councilor Michael Gaffney said during a city council meeting he wants the decision made by those who choose to legalize recreational marijuana in the first place: the voters.
“They went out, and they voted. I think we have to keep in mind before we start talking about bans and everything else: the will of the people spoke at the ballot box,” Gaffney said.
A ban is the wrong idea, he added, because it tells voters that councilors are usurping their choice.
“The people spoke,” he said. “We need to listen.”
Medical marijuana regulations
In the meantime, the Worcester Board of Health approved new regulations this month on medical marijuana dispensaries, responding to an earlier state law passed in 2012.
The regulations require dispensaries to obtain state Department of Public Health approval and an annual license from the Board of Health, which will review applicants for compliance with guidelines such as a security plan. No dispensary can be within 300 feet of a school, day care center, library, park or other dispensary, and can operate only from 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.
They cannot sell anything other than marijuana, and must sell only to qualifying patients or caregivers who have a registration card from a doctor. Violations are subject to a $300 fine or license suspension of up to 30 days. The regulations go into effect Aug. 1.
Worcester has signed four agreements with medical marijuana applicants, but none have opened yet.
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