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February 10, 2020

Natick to seek pot license applicants starting Wednesday

Photo | Courtesy of Town of Natick Natick Town Hall

More than one year after Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey rejected Natick’s moratorium on marijuana businesses, the town is expected to post a Request For Information to potential marijuana license applicants on the town's website on Wednesday, according to the James Freas, director of Community & Economic Development.

While Natick has insisted it needs more planning time to consider the new industry coming to town, Healey’s ruling at the close of 2018 said Natick, Plympton, and Rochester were not engaged in legitimate, ongoing planning processes that justified their requests for more time.

At the time, Healy said state law requires any temporary moratoriums must be limited to an ongoing planning need.

The matter of licensing was on the Board of Selectmen's Monday night's agenda,nut the matter was tabled, Freas said. 

Natick Town Administrator Melissa Malone denied the town has been dragging its feet.

More than 100 marijuana licenses have been distributed statewide since pot has been legalized.

"We have been working very diligently, I don't think there's been a holdup," Malone said. "Our perception is that we've been working to ensure that we have something that is responsive to state law and responsive to the communities I think that's what's we have. This is a new industry and communities are working their way through it, and Natick has done a good job." 

In 2016, more than 54% of Natick residents voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana in Massachusetts.

Two years later, Town Meeting voted to create zoning necessary to permit pot shops and authorize the Board of Selectmen to issue licenses for two marijuana establishments.

More than four dozen companies have expressed an interest in opening a pot shop in Natick.

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7 Comments

Anonymous
February 12, 2020
Why would a pot shop based in a designated zone on Route 9 suddenly bring pot smokers miles away to harm kids on the Natick Common? Wow, the imagination of irrational fear mongers is something else! The truth is most pot smokers are harmless boring professionals who enjoy relaxing with a beer or joint at home. Pot shops are already coming to Route 9 in Framingham, so it makes total sense for Natick to allow shops to open just a few blocks east and grab some tax money from residents of Wellesley, Weston, Sherborn, all of the bordering cities that have banned their own shops. Natick is planning on raising property taxes to hire two new police officers. Instead ,leave property taxes alone and use the new pot tax income toward that!
Anonymous
February 12, 2020
All the concerned NIMBYs need to stop. This would only help Natick's economy and would give people a reason to live in Natick, as there aren't many weed shops in Massachusetts yet. The problem is that most teenagers in Natick are vaping carts that are from the black market, and have unsafe oils in them. Providing a weed store in town would bring down prices of carts legally sold, and kids would stop vaping the underground carts that can kill them.
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