The following group petition requiring the City Council to hold a public hearing was filed with the City Council today:
“Each of the undersigned requests that the City Council of the City of Newton hold a public hearing for the City Council to place a measure on the ballot on or before November 6, 2018:
A general ordinance as follows:
Operation of recreational (non-medical) marijuana establishments as defined in Massachusetts General Law c.94G is prohibited in Newton, provided that a marijuana establishment that was licensed and approved to operate as a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center (Registered Marijuana Dispensary) in the City of Newton prior to July 1, 2017 may, if otherwise allowed by zoning, (a) cultivate non-medical marijuana; (b) manufacture and/or produce non-medical marijuana related products; ( c) test non-medical marijuana and the products derived therefrom; ( d) engage in wholesale distribution of non-medical marijuana and non-medical marijuana products, but not to include retail sales thereof in the City of Newton.
Each of the undersigned certifies that the signer is a registered voter of the city and that they have not signed this group petition more than once.”
This group petition, which required 50 certified signatures, was referred to the Programs and Services Committee. While the committee is required to hold a public hearing, it is not required to vote on the petition.
Huh. Maybe some of the optoutnewton members on this board can enlighten us on this latest move. I hope I’m in town for this public meeting. Best civic entertainment since the leaf blower ordinance.
Gail, could you supply some links please? I’m looking for this part of the ordinance and the petition. It would save me some time. Thanks.
Found it. Thanks.
The real issue here is that Newton’s elected officials have refused to adopt the new law that was passed by a majority of citizens at the ballot box. Their arrogance not only remains an insult to voters, it is a genuine affront to the democratic process. None of these elected “leaders” have the courage to debate the cannabis moratorium in any public forum, because they all know that their position is indefensible.
I disagree Mike. The real issue is that some NIMBYs want to overturn something a majority of Newton citizens overwhelming supported at the ballot box through another referendum. What our local elected officials have done is slow down the arrival of recreational marijuana for a few months to resolve some regulatory challenges. This effort would be a permanent ban and is far more consequential.
I don’t disagree about the misguided citizen petition to ban cannabis. But banning cannabis is exactly what the City Council has already done, which is why I’ve vehemently opposed the moratorium. Greg’s comments assume the Council will eventually undo their ban. The problem with that perspective, is that Councilors have now exposed a freedom won through the ballot box in 2016, to several future possibilities that could potentially derail or significantly delay implementation…
Mayor Fuller and the City Council had an obligation to implement the new law on time. They chose to disrespect the will of the voters by prioritizing all other city business ahead of the voter’s explicit instructions. That’s not the way democracy is supposed to work. We should expect our elected officials to honor a legal vote. None of them have come on Village 14 to try and defend the moratorium. And not one of them–Mayor Fuller included–has guaranteed the adult use cannabis law will ever be fully implemented in Newton.
Greg, I disagree that the administration and city council needed to slow down the process to resolve regulatory challenges – they created their own regulatory challenges. At first they included Garden Remedies but were forced by state law to let them go forward.
They discarded the will of the voters in MA and Newton and halted the legal process for any retail outlet other than previous medical MJ dispensaries.
This moratorium, a ban with a supposed end point, and it’s reasoning sent the message that Newton’s officials have unfounded concerns about adult use MJ, allowed time for groups to use those concerns to spread fear and invited challenges to ban them entirely.
And here we are.
The use of the word “force” is probably off the mark in this context. Whether you agree or disagree with the petitioners, this process is clearly outlined in the city charter and this group are in compliance with section related to citizen petitions. They are merely exercising their right to petition the government and aren’t forcing anyone to do anything.
Maybe we need to tie marijuana into something development-oriented so Mayor Fuller would actually pay attention to it.
Interesting. Newton, the city with more per-capita psychologists, psychiatrists and other charlatans (you can look it up) each of whom regularly dispenses all varieties of feel-good prescriptions seeks to stop weed dispensation.
That’s enough from them, dudes.
@Jane:
I disagree. The petitioners were absolutely within their rights to file the petition and they didn’t do anything wrong. However, by filing said petition, they put the City Council in the position where it must hold a public hearing. I think force is an approiate assessment.
Just to clarify, I’d never sign the petition in this case if it comes to that, but when a group of citizens exercise a right established in the city charter, maybe it’s more accurate to say that said group filed a petition that requires the city council to hold a public hearing.
Tonight Needham approved a bylaw at Town Meeting which officially bans recreational marijuana sales, 121-73.
Needham’s Board of Health had strongly advised against allowing recreational sales, citing data that adolescent marijuana use causes an irreversible 8-point drop in IQ, as well as increases in depression and related mental health afflictions, public safety risks from impaired driving, increased risk of cardiopulmonary diseases, and cancer risks, among other things:
And I’d like to offer a virtual doobie to anyone who can correct my blockquote formatting mess above.
It gets tiring responding to all the prohibitionist crap. You’d think that after 100 years of failure prohibitionists would at least recognize the financial cost of their idiotic policy, if not the devastation caused to millions of people who have been persecuted by unjust laws…
Now that the prohibitionists have repeatedly lost at the ballot box they love to claim that they supported legalization all along, when their real objective is to ban cannabis sales in order to circumvent the voter approved law…
This is where Newton’s elected “leaders” have failed us. Rather than defend a legally binding ballot box vote passed by a majority of voters, our mayor and city council decided to screw the voters and block implementation of the law. Just like the prohibitionist groups these office holders claim to support cannabis legalization, but half of them are lying through their teeth. None of them have the courage to come on Village 14 and debate what they have done.