Although the retail sale of recreational marijuana was set to be legalized July 1 in Massachusetts, Suffolk County, where Boston is located, has yet to issue a local permit to any recreational marijuana operator.
For companies seeking state licenses from the Cannabis Control Commission, they must first receive approval from the county they reside in, which is referred to as a host community agreement, said Massachusetts Grower Advocacy Council President Peter Bernard.
However, Bernard said these agreements can be an issue for operators to receive, as he said they are the largest barrier marijuana companies face.
“The most crucial part and what seems to be the hardest thing to do is to get the host community agreements from town,” Bernard said. ”Because, without that, the rest of it is basically paperwork. The agreement is the hard part.”
New England Political Director of the Marijuana Policy Project Matt Simon said it is critical for operators to have the agreement ready when they attempt to receive a state license. However, he said that when the City is not distributing the host community agreements quickly, this can pose as an obstacle for operators.
“One of the most important things is that they have a host community agreement in place before they come before the state Cannabis Control Commission,” Simon said. “So, this has been just a major log jam in the entire process.”
Another major barrier recreational marijuana operators face, Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition press secretary Maggie Kinsella said, is town and municipal issues, including City zoning.
“Finding an actual location has become very difficult, especially for smaller businesses that are competing with all these larger companies that all have priority,” Kinsella said. “Most of these companies are in medical, and they’ve had an application in for a while now, so they’re all competing with big money.”
Kinsella also spoke about buffer zones — policies that the City or a municipality create that prevent neighborhoods from having more than one marijuana distributor within a certain distance, which, she said, often leads to discrimination.
“You’ve given an existing facility that area, and if you’re a town that doesn’t have anything in it yet, and you create those types of buffer zones, and you limit them to industrial zones,” Kinsella said, “then you’re really creating a monopoly on one or two businesses’ shot at getting in right now with a limited number of licenses.”
Simon also said he is concerned that zoning might work against some operators, especially since social equity programs have been implemented to give communities that have been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs a leg up in opening said businesses.
“The city can use zoning to shut people out or to limit businesses to only a certain number and have that certain number … use host community agreements to pay large sums to the town that the equity applicant wouldn’t be able to afford,” Simon said. “That may undermine the goals of the initiative.”
Back Bay resident Chris Sanders, 37, said he thinks marijuana sales could be beneficial to the city’s economy.
“There’s a big market here, and I think it’s one we need to be capitalizing on,” Sanders said. “I don’t think there’s going to be like this big rush of people into the city for it because it’s already legal in so many places, so [I] think we really just need to capitalize on the market that’s already in place here.”
Kinsella also said she has concerns over how the City will choose which companies to grant marijuana licenses and which companies will be able to open in certain zoning areas.
“I know some of them are trying to prioritize economic empowerment applicants in their process,” Kinsella said. “… it’s up to the town about what they should be, basically as long as they’re not prioritizing bigger businesses from out of state over smaller, local businesses.”
East Boston resident Jose Garcia said he thinks approval of marijuana retailers will depend on the age range of people living in the neighborhood.
“You get the older residents who will be more against it because of what they’ve been subjected to,” the 30-year-old said. “The younger generations are more open-minded, and they’ll be more for it.”
Sara Lee, 44, of Back Bay, said she would welcome a marijuana dispensary in her neighborhood.
“Pretty much all business is good business,” Lee said. “So what if there’s a handful more people buying and smoking weed? They’re already smoking it, so why not bring the profits in for our city?”
Hannah Schoenbaum contributed to the reporting of this story.
