Cape Ann Online

Bravo Manchester for voting in favor of Pot Shops

Hopefully people use that same common sense when its Rockport's turn to vote.

There was a good fear piece in the Time's yesterday about how it will ruin Rockport's "Unique beauty and tranquility" and even some "what about the children" thrown in for good measure!

There are more important issues I think.

Damon wrote: There are more important issues I think.

I happen to think this is a very important issue for my town...

I heard it first-hand tonight. Gloucester City Councilors want your opinion on marijuana shops in Gloucester...yes or no, how many, where, etc.  Please write or call them!


Paul Lundberg    978-282-8871 ;  plundberg@gloucester-ma.gov
Melissa Cox        978-631-9015 ;  mcox@gloucester-ma.gov
Jen Holmgren      978-335-4748 ;  jholmgren@gloucester-ma.gov
James O’Hara     978-979-7533 ;    johara@gloucester-ma.gov
Steven LeBlanc   978-283-3360 ; sleblanc@gloucester-ma.gov
Valerie Gilman      978-283-1993; vgilman@gloucester-ma.gov
Scott Memhard   978-283-1955  ; smemhard@gloucester-ma.gov
Sean Nolan         978-375-8381 ;  snolan@gloucester-ma.gov
Ken Hecht            617-755-9400;  khecht@gloucester-ma.gov

There are six medical marijuana shops in the Bangor area and they have never been an issue. Retail shops won't appear for another year for the same short-sighted, fear mongering reasons as you're experiencing in Mass. I'll be growing a crop this year - 12 indica plants out at my camp, so I'll probably have plenty to last the winter...

brainfix wrote: There are six medical marijuana shops in the Bangor area and they have never been an issue. Retail shops won't appear for another year for the same short-sighted, fear mongering reasons as you're experiencing in Mass. I'll be growing a crop this year - 12 indica plants out at my camp, so I'll probably have plenty to last the winter...

One of the most important soil amendments in my opinion is Mycorrhiza (sp?). Not only is it good for the roots, but most importantly it helps stave off powdery mildew and bud rot which can destroy a whole crop in the blink of an eye!

I just read that Gloucester will have at least one shop and cannot have a ban because a municipality cannot prevent a medical marijuana establishment from adding adult use marijuana sales under the state code.  Happy Valley would meet this criteria.  So the proposal that is being made according to Val Gilman's page is to limit it to one store.  This will require a public hearing and council vote.  Otherwise we would have 3 stores.  Thoughts on one store vs three?

I vote for five. One in each precinct. 

The more the merrier, as each shop will vary according to what they carry. I shop at all the dispensaries around here for different items. One shop has 50mg capsules that are guaranteed sleep inducers, while another has kick-ass gummies. Yet another has wicked strong vapes while another is well-known for their potent buds. There are upwards of 160,000 people in the Bangor metro area, so the existing shops as well as the black market pretty much have it covered.

I think competition would benefit consumers in price and other ways.

One of the best things about an open, regulated market is how well products have become standardized and symptom-specific. All the dispensaries have knowledgeable salespeople who can ask a few questions about your needs and match you up with products that will take care of those needs. The recreational market should follow the same model, crafting strains for specific experiential results. A far cry from whatever you get in the baggie from your neighborhood dealer.

Would the Medical Marijuana dispensary that opts to also sell recreational count as the one recreational store or are we talking about one recreational store in addition to the Medical/Recreational facility?

Dispensaries Must Set Aside Product For Registered Patients

Registered marijuana patients in Massachusetts have had access to legal marijuana products at licensed dispensaries since 2015. Many of those patients fear there will be a stampede on July 1, when several of those dispensaries seek to also offer adult-use marijuana to anyone over the age of 21. The patients successfully convinced the Cannabis Control Commission to require that those dispensaries set aside 35 percent of their product, or a six-month average of their medical marijuana sales, for registered patients. Registered patients will also, at least for the time being, not have to stand in line with the general public to purchase what many consider their necessary medicine.

http://www.wbur.org/news/2018/03/06/mas ... s-approved

My read of the post is that it would be just one total...that is also the medical facility. You raise another good point in favor of more than one.

I've never waited in line for more than 10 minutes. But that was a medical marijuana facility.

brainfix wrote: The more the merrier, as each shop will vary according to what they carry. I shop at all the dispensaries around here for different items. One shop has 50mg capsules that are guaranteed sleep inducers, while another has kick-ass gummies. Yet another has wicked strong vapes while another is well-known for their potent buds. There are upwards of 160,000 people in the Bangor metro area, so the existing shops as well as the black market pretty much have it covered.

I really bumped on the 160,000 people in the Bangor metro area. So I looked it  up. Apparently the statisticians consider all of Penobscot County to be the "Bangor metropolitan area" so Millinocket and about 30 miles beyond, or as far as a two hour drive north of Bangor, is considered part of the metropolitan area. So is Newport and the towns over that way. Current stat is about 155,000 for the county, though. 

But Bangor, Brewer, up to Old Town and the towns contiguous therein would be no more than half that. 

Yep, I know the metro area covers a lot of ground. Everyone comes to Bangor, because everything is here.

Karly wrote: I just read that Gloucester will have at least one shop and cannot have a ban because a municipality cannot prevent a medical marijuana establishment from adding adult use marijuana sales under the state code.  Happy Valley would meet this criteria.  So the proposal that is being made according to Val Gilman's page is to limit it to one store.  This will require a public hearing and council vote.  Otherwise we would have 3 stores.  Thoughts on one store vs three?

Attempts to limit us to a single store are just silly. Not unless those same reactionary forces are trying to close down the plethora of Packys (Packies?!) in town. As any fool knows - alcohol is far more dangerous to our individual and collective health tan cannabis is. There is no rational argument against this.

That "one store" has potential of being busy like Market Basket the day before a storm. 
 Think, if there was one Package Store in Gloucester.

gator wrote: Bravo Manchester for voting in favor of Pot Shops

Hopefully people use that same common sense when its Rockport's turn to vote.

There was a good fear piece in the Time's yesterday about how it will ruin Rockport's "Unique beauty and tranquility" and even some "what about the children" thrown in for good measure!

I can tell you from my alcohol retail experience that Rockporter's by a wide margin had the highest number of hardcore drinkers of any Cape Ann community.

Karly wrote: I just read that Gloucester will have at least one shop and cannot have a ban because a municipality cannot prevent a medical marijuana establishment from adding adult use marijuana sales under the state code.  Happy Valley would meet this criteria.  So the proposal that is being made according to Val Gilman's page is to limit it to one store.  This will require a public hearing and council vote.  Otherwise we would have 3 stores.  Thoughts on one store vs three?

I read Val's post and then read the the Section that she cited and I'm not sure that she is correct about not being able to ban recreational shops.  I think that section means that if a municipality does opt to allow recreational, they can't, through zoning, exclude a currently permitted Medical Dispensary from being a recreational dispensary as well.  I'm pretty sure that a municipality can allow medical and still ban recreational (in Gloucester that would only happen by a voter referendum).  Of course, if laws were written in plain English I wouldn't have to go looking for some supporting article, lol.

Section 3. Local control

(a) A city or town may adopt ordinances and by-laws that impose reasonable safeguards on the operation of marijuana establishments, provided they are not unreasonably impracticable and are not in conflict with this chapter or with regulations made pursuant to this chapter and that:

(1) govern the time, place and manner of marijuana establishment operations and of any business dealing in marijuana accessories, except that zoning ordinances or by-laws shall not prohibit placing a marijuana establishment which cultivates, manufactures or sells marijuana or marijuana products in any area in which a medical marijuana treatment center is registered to engage in the same type of activity;

https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralL ... G/Section3

This article is about Milford, MA and states:

https://www.thecannabist.co/2017/09/19/ ... ans/88290/

"The proposed ban would not include medical marijuana establishments, but would prevent either company from expanding into the more lucrative recreational marijuana market."

https://www.thecannabist.co/2017/09/19/ ... ans/88290/