🔒Editorial: The benefits of marijuana

In 2018, before the first adult-use cannabis dispensaries had even opened, 46 Central Massachusetts cities and towns had either moratoriums or all-out bans against any marijuana businesses opening in their communities. Today, that number sits at 15.

That’s a very solid turnaround for a product and an industry that had nearly 50 years of bias against it.

After the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug on par with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy, cannabis became a villain in our national story, as police departments assembled task forces to stop its distribution, schools preached against its use, and sales were relegated to a black market whose dealers risked lengthy incarcerations. Even as states, including Massachusetts, decriminalized its possession and then approved of its use for medical purposes, marijuana was still feared as a gateway drug and potential ruiner of the fabric of our communities. In 2016, mere months before Massachusetts voters would legalize recreational cannabis, Gov. Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey, and then Boston Mayor Marty Walsh teamed up in a Boston Globe op-ed to say the state should never legalize it and warned against the negative public health and safety impacts.

None of that has come to pass. In the six years since adult-use cannabis was legalized and the four years since the first dispensaries opened, neither the areas around the shops nor the overall communities have descended into madness. Buying cannabis from a Massachusetts dispensary is similar to shopping at a very secure liquor store, where the employees are very knowledgeable about the various products they are selling. Legal adult-use marijuana has generated more than $3 billion in sales since late 2018, and the number grows each year, even with prices dropping as more competing dispensaries open. Any communities choosing to ban marijuana companies now are basically just flying an anti-business flag.

Despite the overall positive rollout, the industry isn’t without its problems. The social justice and equity aspect written into the 2016 ballot initiative, saying the main purpose of the industry was to benefit those people and communities harmed by the War on Drugs, is trailing far behind that promise. The adult-use market is run by wealthy investors, and only 10% of business licensees are people of color, with even fewer meeting the definition of those harmed by the War on Drugs. Local governments who have decided to embrace the industry often demanded a king’s ransom in order for the individual business owners to secure the host community agreements necessary to receive their state operating licenses. Fortunately, the Massachusetts legislature is nearing a solution to reform these problems and more, by funding more programs for social equity applicants and limiting the amount of money a host community can demand.

If approved, that measure would still need to be signed into law by Baker. Following his 2016 op-ed, Baker eventually did sign off on the 2017 bill that established the regulatory framework for marijuana legalization, so it appears he has at least somewhat embraced the benefits the industry can bring. He can do one better now and sign this new reform bill into law, further normalizing this nascent industry.