Julie Cohen at the TAB reports on the angry reception the owners of Union Twist, a cannabis retailer proposed for 1158 Beacon Street received at a recent meeting.
“The only motivation for you opening the store is about being filthy rich,” said one resident
[Another said] “I think you have a guilty conscience,” about opening in the city, in proximity to Zervas Elementary School.
Can someone please explain why there’s a fear that elementary schoolers would somehow gain access to a retail marijuana shop?
Do they think a third grader will sneak in during recess? (Not to mention make the necessary appointment in advance). Are they not aware of the required levels of security, required by law, that exist even before a customer can even get inside to speak to a salesperson who just isn’t going to sell pot to a elementary schooler.
There is legitimate concern about young children and recreational marijuana. But that has to do with making sure parents carefully secure their edibles at home.
But that has nothing to do with how close a shop is to a school. (Not to mention it’s not really that close.)
I love that plaza and I’m there frequently. I sympathize with the folks who are afraid. But Garden Remedies is the exact same thing, has fewer parking spaces, and is the same distance from Cabot School and other schools, and is a bit further from the high school.
Honestly, so what? There is a liquor store in the same plaza. Garden Remedies has been a big snooze for our area. And once 8 stores open up, folks really won’t line up. At some point, the demand isn’t there. This isn’t a super store like Brookline.
Folks who live close-by are likely scared, but if it mirrors Garden Remedies, I really think it is no big deal…
It’s easy to find two recently published major studies — one by the US CDC showing that pot use went down among teens in states where recreational is legal, the other from the US DoJ’s NIJ showing no increase in crime from recreational legalization (and technically a huge decrease in crime, if taking the drop in illegal purchases into account).
What’s left to complain about with pot shops. Traffic? In that case why not pick on Trader Joe’s, Marty’s or Whole Foods. Let’s also keep in mind Union Twist, like Garden Remedies and CTM are our smaller and more local players. They’re not Ascend or MedMen.
@Dulles, points taken about validity of abutter complaints vs. other retailers. But two points of clarification:
1. Union Twist was financed by the same multi-state cannabis investment company, JM10 Partners, that started Ascend Wellness and Blue Jay Botanicals in Athol. The name, Union Twist, is the same name as the grow facility owned by Ascend in Athol. Coincidence? Doubtful.
This Boston Globe investigation showed how these big investment companies try to get around the 3-store limit in state law by starting different shell companies and hiring politically connected executives to get the permitting done.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/marijuana/2019/05/01/for-sale-pot-industry-political-influence/k9XBoEQD8ElWixzdVNeSWN/story.html
2. There are also reports from school resource officers in Colorado that the data used in the CDC reports that show declining cannabis use among teenagers is flawed. It’s more likely that teen pot use isn’t reported by schools any more because it’s no longer seen as a big transgression.:
https://www.denverpost.com/2017/12/22/surveys-state-colorado-youth-marijuana-use-flawed-critics/
I admire the entrepreneurship of these cannabis pioneers who are bringing business and jobs to Newton. It’s not easy to be in the crosshairs of people who are driven by irrational fears. The real story is that there are thousands of Newtonites today who are safely enjoying the freedom they voted for.
The owners of Whole Foods is filthy rich, as are the CEO’s of Panara, MacDonalds, CVS, Walgreens, and every other corporation with a storefront/business in the city. Should they pack their bags and leave the city?
“are” filthy rich.
Also, there are two liquor stores at Four Corners intersection.
Hi Sarah,
#2 first – Rather than CDC I’d originally meant to reference the JAMA meta-study, Across a population of 1,414,826, teen use and heavy teen use decrease in recreational states. Seems obvious: Kids find it harder to get their hands on pot when legitimate retail stores, who don’t sell to them, displace illicit dealers.
#1 second – Andrea Cabral addressed this point at the Ascend community meeting. Union Twist’s ties are correct, but JM10 investments are also in compliance with the state’s ownership restrictions. Shops draw from a small pool of specialist consultants to navigate applications and compliance. Union Twist is a smaller in-state company making its way through the intense regulatory process. Personally I’d rather see them than MedMen any day.
@Dulles, we’re in agreement that MedMen is a poor choice. With their stock price tanking, with any luck they’ll run out of money before this comes to fruition!
Right you are Jane! Whole Foods is owned by multi-billionaire Democrat
Jeff Bezos and his Amazon empire.
Not only are they paying less in taxes than you and me, we both get to subsidize the health care of his employees, as he isnt paying them enough to afford it. Now that is leveraging the use of other people’s money . $$$$$$$
I live near the old Green Tea and I have two teenagers. I am not fearful of them going into the shop. I am not fearful of them going into the liquor store near the old Green Tea.
I will take the tax revenue and put it to work in Newton/Massachusetts.
Does anybody know anything about Herbology that has gotten a provisional HCA for a site next to the town dump on Rumford Ave.? That seems like a site that everyone can get behind — even the rats living at the dump who will have fun partying in the Herbology trash bin!
http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/98785
Can we get back to the article…. Only one councilor showed up – Councilor Noel. Not a single candidate from Ward 5 or Ward 6 were present. Julia Malakie, candidate for Ward 3 was in attendance recording the meeting .
Thank you Councilor Noel for representing the constituents of both Ward 6 and Ward 5 . I for one am looking forward to this store opening but agree with your quote in the article, no one wants the lines that we are seeing Brookline. We appreciate your leadership on this matter.
This is not just a marijuana issue. This is transportation, traffic and zoning all rolled into one. So where were councilors Rice, Downs, Danberg and Schwartz?
And what about the Candidates? The absence of candidates Lisa Gordon, Alicia Bowman, Rena Getz, Kathy Winters and Bill Humphrey speaks volumes.
Is it wrong to expect our city councilors and candidates show up to these meetings?
Thank you again, Councilor Noel and candidate Julia Malakie. Good luck on November 5th.
I spoke to a few city councilors and candidates who wanted to come but had council committee meetings that night or weren’t back from out of town trips for the high holidays. I also appreciated that councilor Noel was able to come and hear from constituents.
Is the Rumford Ave, dump a manufacturing zoned area? If it is, I suspect there’d be a lot of opposition.
@sarah You seem to have some pretty unique knowledge of the councilors and candidates. care to share more regarding which councilors/candidates and their excused absences?
@Jack, no, I don’t wish to publicly divulge anyone’s personal whereabouts or holiday plans. If they want to do so on this site, they can, though I wasn’t aware anyone is required to get an “excused absence” from you or anyone else.
It is public information that the Land Use committee was meeting at the same time as the Union Twist meeting.
Our councilors and candidates may have their shortcomings, but overwhelmingly not showing up at meetings is one of them. They’re out all the time. And, as Sarah notes, there’s often multiple meetings each night. As with other special permits, this will require a public hearing, committee deliberations and, ultimately, votes. Not attending any one specific meeting only suggests that they didn’t attend one meeting, nothing more.
And frankly, if you attend one community meeting about a retail marijuana shop, you’ll probably hear the same concerns at the next one (traffic, parking, security, too close to my kids’ school, how dare business owners look to turn a profit, etc.). It’s just a different group of abutters with near-identical questions and fears.
Here’s the video link for anyone who missed the meeting. I was coming from work so I missed the beginning. Video gets less wobbly after I got plugged into an outlet. https://youtu.be/eo5dlVtUjcE
Julia you are a star. Thank you!
Whether or not the concerns expressed are largely similar at each meeting, it does not make concerns from community members less valid. I wish I could’ve made this meeting and the land use hearing for Ascend.
Newton wants this shop. The people who attend are self-selecting. It’s always something with this group… too close to school, how dare you make a profit, the taxes, the traffic, the parking, the zoning, kids will get addicted, older population will get addicted, the democrats, the republicans, the major, the weather… always an excuse.
These pot shops are providing a product, and/or service that a meaningful part of our society needs( medical), or wants.(recreational).
They are legal and strictly regulated, so there is that. People are going to consume cannabis whether it is legal or not
What fascinates me most about the roll out of these shops is the ownership or legal stake in them by Democrat politicians
or former Law Enforcement Democrats.
Strictly from an observational, not
moral standpoint, I’m curious to see if anyone other than myself feels
just a bit squeamish finding former
Boston pols Marie St. Fleur,
Michael Ross, former Suffolk county sheriff
Andrea Cabral, and former DA Bill Delahunt racing to obtain licenses and open shops? I’m going to go out on a limb and say there are more, I just haven’t identified them.
Let me first say that Bill Delahunt
may no longer be in the mix for a license or shop, and Michael Ross
may strictly be serving as legal council for the Union Twist..,
However, i just can’t get my head around how one would transition from law enforcement(Andrea Cabral, Delahunt) to selling pot
or how a former pol with a constituency of at-risk youths and families(St. Fleur) could or would
justify becoming part of what some people of our city and society would consider “a part of the problem”
I may be totally off base here, and
I’m probably an outlier, but while a case for medical marijuana can be made from a health point of view, there
really is no shelter from the view that recreational marijuana sellers are basically legal drug pushers. Is this what we want our politicians and law enforcement officials to aspire to after they leave office? Is it fair to ask if these individuals ever had a political core, or if
money(heavens no!!) might be their real motivation?
On a side note, there is an excellent Netflix series called Murder Mountain
that documents the growth of the pot industry from hippie culture, to its destruction by the Nixon administration, and the subsequent battles between the legal and underground or outlaw pot industries
Paul Green, you bring up an interesting observation – former politicians and law enforcement opening retail pot stores. Unless these people were strongly against marijuana in their former positions, that’s all it is – an observation – including that they are democrats.
“money(heavens no!!) might be their real motivation?” Yes. It’s most business owners motivation, along with other reasons.
Thanks for recommendations Murder Mountain. And thanks to Julia for recommending Intelligence.
For entertainment, I highly recommend the Canadian TV series “Intelligence” which you can get on DVD through the Newton Free Library. It’s set in Vancouver before Canada legalized marijuana, about the head of a family whose business is marijuana, and the ambitious head of the local office of Canadian intelligence and her scheming co-workers. Elements of The Wire, MI-5, and the Sopranos. Oddly lovable characters. I’m so sad they only made two seasons.
@jack I would have attended this meeting but I was at a campaign event with several other candidates including Councilor Downs and Councilor Crossley that was scheduled two months before this. Councilor Noel was also supposed to be at this event decided to go to the Union Twist meeting instead . I have had a few people reach out to me before the meeting and after to share their concerns about this site. But I will also add that I spoke in the summer to a resident across from this site that is more concerned about the fear mongering from people fighting the shop than the shop itself.