The Land Use Committee will be holding public hearings on the expansion of the medical marijuana facility, Garden Remedies, to include recreational sales and on a request for a new medical marijuana dispensary on Elliott Street.
The Programs and Services Committee will hold a public hearing on a Citizen’s Petition requesting the Council to put a question on the ballot that would prohibit recreational sales of marijuna in Newton exempting medical marijuana dispensaries licensed and approved before July 1, 2017.
I received a hand delivered notice that said it is 500 feet within a school. I don’t know of a school near there. Can anyone shed light on this information? Thanks
I believe they may be referring to a private day care/pre-school in the area
The 500 “buffer” was added by prohibitionist politicians at the state level in an attempt to undermine implementation of the medical marijuana law passed by voters in 2012. It applies to “schools” and religious institutions [that ironically pay no taxes]. The buffer was also unfortunately included in the more recent cannabis legalization passed by voters in 2016. The City Council has the right to waive the 500 buffer requirement…
What the City Council members do NOT have, is the right to steal a legally binding ballot box vote passed by a majority of voters. I hope people will remember the disrespect that Fuller and the City Council have shown them. These elected “leaders” are not only misguided, they are also cowards unwilling to engage in public debate about what they have done.
And if you mention that the kids going to those schools wear heavy backpacks, then you’d hit the Mike Striar trifecta!
Joking aside, it’s ironic how?
@Greg– Ironic because a “buffer” restricts the highest tax paying businesses [cannabis businesses] from opening within 500′ of property tax freeloaders like churches and synagogues. Never mind ironic, it’s clearly unconstitutional. I’m sure the buffer from religious institutions will be found unconstitutional as it works its way through the courts…
I’m equally certain that it will eventually be determined by a court that Fuller and the City Council violated the rights of voters by blocking implementation of the 2016 cannabis law.
I have a frightening picture in my mind of toddlers leaving the day care and sneaking their way into Garden Remedies for a puff of the bewitching weed. Actually, I’ve heard from someone who frequents this establishment that the security is more like Fort Knox than CVS. I still can’t fathom what prompted the city fathers of yore to place the 500′ buffer between churches and liquor stores. Perhaps there were fears that a bad sermon might prompt parishioners to go on a quick bender.
I grew up in Connecticut, just a block away from a liquor store. When I became a high schooler and underage drinker (with, um, my brother’s old license), I would never buy from that store out of fear that my parents or neighbors would see me.
In fact, thinking back, I just realized that I never once stepped foot inside our local packie.
Instead my friends and I drove two towns away to buy our Boons Farm and Budweiser someplace where we were sure no one would recognize us.
Perhaps parents who are now worried about their kids frequenting the pot shop should hope one moves in right next door because that’s the last place they will ever shop.
FYI, this Wednesday 7:30pm City Hall the Programs & Services Committee is hearing a petition to put a question on the November ballot prohibiting recreational marijuana sales in Newton.
Link to the notice:
http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/89978/06-06-18%20Public%20Hearing%20Notice.pdf
A Public Hearing will be held on Wednesday, JUNE 6, 2018 at 7:30 PM, Second Floor,
NEWTON CITY HALL before the PROGRAMS & SERVICES COMMITTEE for the purpose of hearing the following petition at which time all parties interested in this item shall be heard.
[…]
SUZANNE BENDER ET AL., submitting a group petition pursuant to Section 10Ͳ2
of the City of Newton Charter, requesting that the City Council place a question
on the November 6, 2018 ballot as to whether the City of Newton will adopt the
following ordinance:
“Operation of recreational (non-medical) marijuana establishments as defined in
M.G.L. Chapter 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.”
Reefer madness! If a school or church is 498 feet away, even across the ‘pike, the presence of the pot shop will destroy the kiddies!
I don’t know about the law on schools, but wasn’t there a case about 30 years ago, wherein a church in Cambridge objected to a liquor license for Grendel’s Den, in Harvard Square, and lost? That might be precedential.
following is a post that I posted somewhere else a few weeks ago…
I’m going to go out on a limb on this one and share my personal experience. When I was in my late teens and twenties I used marijuana quite often.
Marijuana helped me focus. I smoked when I needed to study in college, I smoked before I went the pool to swim laps, I smoked when I needed to accomplish things.
If I am to be honest, I would have to say that marijuana was a catalyst for much of the critical thinking that shaped person that I am today.
In my early 30’s I was diagnosed with adult ADD and have taken Adderall daily for the past 25 years. It’s also interesting that I stopped using marijuana entirely when I began using Adderall.
It really makes absolutely no sense to be more uncomfortable about marijuana then we are about alcohol
From what I can see alcohol is infinitely more dangerous and destructive to our children and our society then marijuana is. Unfortunately, alcohol is the more socially acceptable drug.
Does that mean that the petitioners did not gather enough signatures or does one have to request something to be put on the ballot even with enough signatures. Can people attending the hearing argue against the questions be put on the ballot or is this not open to discussion for the public?
@Patricia Loewy – Here’s how it was just explained to me. Anyone who can collect 50 signatures can request that the City Council hold a public meeting about putting a referendum question on the City ballot. At that public meeting everyone (for/against) can make their opinions known to the Council. The council will then vote on the referendum but is under no legal obligation to support it.
Note – this is entirely different then the state process – collect LOTS of signatures to bypass the legislature and force a question on the state ballot.
Actually Jerry is half correct. If the full council rejects the citizens petition to put it on the ballot the petitioners can go out and collect more signatures (I forget how many but it’s in the thousands) to force it on the ballot.
The group behind the petition told me on Friday that they plan to spend the summer gathering signatures if necessary.
@Greg & Jerry: I think the number of required signatures to get around a City Council NO vote is 10% of the population, or about 6,000. But I would check that with the City Clerk to be sure.
@Patricia, it sounds like everyone can show up here to make their voices heard.
@Greg, I can add that at least some OON folks were canvassing to collect signatures.
I know I will be there tonight to voice my opinion on the petition.
If you can’t attend the meeting tonight, be sure to call or email the city council to voice your opinion. The city clerk David Olson has an email, [email protected] that gets yours to every City Councilor.
@Andreae Downs– I hope you realize that the action you and your City Council colleagues took in passing a moratorium has emboldened this misguided group seeking to RE-vote the ballot initiative that legalized marijuana in Massachusetts. The intent of that initiative was clear even in its name, “the campaign to regulate marijuana like alcohol.”
You and the Council decided to do the exact opposite of what you were instructed to do by the voters when you banned recreational cannabis in Newton. You, Mayor Fuller and the Council have disrespected the voters, placed the medical cannabis supply chain in jeopardy, and already cost the city a fortune in lost revenue from community host agreements.
The voters decided the issue more than one full year before you took office. Was that not sufficient time to contemplate your obligation to implement the law? I can’t recall a single instance of you as a candidate suggesting you would vote to overturn the law passed by a majority of your constituents.
@Mike Stiar – I hope you come tonight. I totally agree with you and I will be there.