According to this story in the Boston Globe, a federal grand jury is investigating municipal marijuana agreements in several municipalities, including Newton.
At least five communities — Eastham, Leicester, Newton, Northampton, and Uxbridge — confirmed Monday that they have received subpoenas from Lelling’s office seeking information about so-called host community agreements.
The controversial contracts, which each recreational marijuana firm must sign with the community in which it hopes to operate before applying for a state license, typically call for substantial payments to the municipality. Critics have long charged that local officials frequently demand more money than allowed under state law, and that the state’s system of strong local control over cannabis companies is ripe for corruption.
Should have been regulated like alcohol.
Someone will not be sleeping well tonight!
Should have happened sooner. Would have, should have, affected the election.
Hi Casey, how do you think it would have affected the election? For the campaigns, marijuana stores was a third-rail issue.
Anyone know about the scope of the investigation and what is being alleged?
@Peter: If you read the article you would know the scope of the investigation. That’s the whole idea behind having articles.
@Dulles A lot of money was poured into the town before the pot shop vote last year. Most Newton residents think Big Marijuana is a myth made up by boomers who don’t want anyone to have any fun. Hopefully we’ll get to see through this investigation what really happened last year. Too late for this election cycle but not too late for the next.
@Dulles: Clearly, Casey didn’t read the article either.
But really folks, read it before spouting your conspiracy theories.
Hi Casey, the investigation is about cities & towns, and Host Community Agreements demanding excessive payments from pot shops.
So unless there’s a totally unexpected twist in the investigation, in Newton this would be about what’s happened in negotiations this year after the vote passed; not about what happened last year.
(@Greg: Just so you know, I did read the WHOLE article…I am quoting the last sentence from the Globe below:)
“Garden Remedies, the sole marijuana store to open in Newton so far, agreed to pay the city 3 percent of the store’s medical and recreational marijuana revenues, plus make a $2,500 annual donation to a local charity.”
The article doesn’t say what the agreement is between the “winner chosen” at Four Corners or Eliot and Rte 9 and the City; nor what is negotiated or being negotiated at the remaining sites in Newton. The Federal Grand Jury investigation is looking to see where the monies negotiated by the Municipalities are going. (In Fall River, supposedly, into the pols pocketbooks.) Unlikely that would happen in Newton, but I’d like to know what donations are being requested to what local charities by the City…or what other goodies will be collected! That should be something open to public scrutiny!!!!!!!
@Sallee: All the host agreements are public record and go before the city council.
@ Greg – neither you or I know if the Investigation extends further. We have to see if the US Attorney is able to bring indictments after evidence is presented to a grand jury. More to follow.
This definitely could have affected the election in one particular way. Had this been announced a week ago, it would have forced Councilor candidates to take a stand on it. Kinda glad that didn’t happen, as it would have served more to just muddy the waters before an election than to solve anything. This should give us something to follow, post-election.
Thanks, Greg. I missed those deliberations. So where does the $2500 charitable donation from Garden Remedies go? I didn’t see that on the City’s website.
Community Host Agreements can be found here:
http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/planning/current/devrev/hip/medical_marijuana_dispensary.asp
Thanks, Amy. Not easy to ferret that info out on the website!
@Greg – before chiding people for not reading the article (which I agree they should do if they can), remember that not everyone has access to Boston Globe articles. While I do, and strongly believe in supporting what’s left of the newspaper, not everyone can or wants to make that choice.
Here’s a link to a non-paywall article:
https://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2019/11/05/massachusetts-cannabis-agreements-federal-investigation
@ Meredith- Well said. I agree Greg can be more gentlemanly. I for one, don’t have Boston Globe access and even though the link is provided without a subscription one can’t open it.