Building will be constructed next to 101 University Drive just north of CVS and Post Office
For the second meeting in a row the Amherst Select Board has pot on their plate.
Last week it was blowing off Extravaganja on the Town Common and this week it's being more receptive to a medical marijuana facility that hopes to locate at 85 University Drive.
The Select Board is being asked to provide a letter of support or non opposition which curiously enough the state weighs exactly the same. Giving politicians a little bit of cover since they can allow the project to move forward but at the same time are not portrayed as supporters.
And since the Select Board took great pains last week to say they have no problem with the (First Amendment protected) "message" of Extravaganja pot rally -- only its large size -- to now turn down a medical marijuana facility might look a tad hypocritical.
The town wisely approved a Planning Board zoning tweak (Article 13), which requires a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting, back in November of 2013 which of course was a response to the medical marijuana referendum passing on a state level the year before.
Interestingly if the town had not passed Article 13 the rules would default to a state statute which requires 500 feet distance from a pharmacy or anyplace children congregate. And the CVS, with a licensed pharmacy, would easily fall with that 500 foot range. Article 13 only requires a 300 foot buffer.
Once the Select Board approves their letter of non opposition MassMedicum still needs to acquire a Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals, and that requires a unanimous vote off all three members.
Of course you have to wonder what will become of these highly regulated medical marijuana facilities should the recreational use of pot pass muster this coming November.
Will the state set up a different category of license for recreational providers? They would then have a greater market which could bring down prices so consumers with medical needs will start shopping there as well.
We've got a state budget deficit of $950 million. Colorado collects $100 million a month on marijuana taxes and licensing fees. Bring it on.
ReplyDeleteState legal, federal illegal, if money from the sale of weed is deposited in a bank
ReplyDeletethe feds could seize it. Where do you put $100 million a month in cash?
if one reads closely, the amount of money colorado collects is correct but the majority of it goes to regulate the cannibus industry...so no gain
ReplyDeletePeople want to get high. Fucked up. Our enemies like us that way.
ReplyDeleteThe $100 million are sales tax. The federal government doesn't seize taxes from states.
ReplyDeleteThe feds have said they would not interfere with states'pot policies.
ReplyDeleteThis will hurt local banks like any dispensary does. Prior local dealers use the bank....dispenaries do not. I had this convo with a number of local bank mgrs...one even had a daughter in CA making hash as we spoke. Less deposits result in less loans. Ore regulation pulls local money to Boston. The quality of pot in dispensaries is also lower. Only the regulators win on this one, the Boston regulators.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of pot dispensaries having any impact on local banks. Your statement is ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteChildren don't congregate at the Post Office?!?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I love the irony here -- this is the same building that the A-holes of UMass Housing Telecom operate out of, and I'll love it when those schmucks have to walk through the druggie crowd every day.
And as to the Feds, they'll be a new set of rules in 356 days and counting... -- and you well might find a very different set of rules.
Never forget how Reagan gave us the 21-year-old drinking law. Given the choice of legal pot or Federal highway money, which becomes money to repave Amherst streets -- well, Larry, which would YOU choose?
Annon 6:39 -- "money laundering" laws preclude drug dealers from using local banks anyway...
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget to report any money you embezzle.
ReplyDeleteBuilding is located just north of CVS and Post Office
ReplyDeleteFrom that description- I was thinking downtown!
Anon 8:49, you kinda need to be able to identify a SOURCE of the money you are depositing, particularly if it is cash. And anyone with an IQ above 12 is going to purchase illegal substances with cash.
ReplyDeleteok, I know of multiple times when the UMPD was called to report a theft of drugs, along with a drug-dealing RA being shot in the throat (on Halloween) in dispute over a Pot deal, but most people try to be discrete...
The building in the picture is 101 University Drive, not 85.
ReplyDeleteYou dont have to hear of it to be true. Dispensaries dont use banks, local dealers do. A local banker made this clear. The legalization of weed trading without deposits keeps the money out of banks. Dispensaries are despirate to bank and only a handful are getting away with it. The law does not keep small drug dealers money out of banks because there is no way to enforce it. Deny all you want, this is common knowledge for anyone involved....like bankers and legal pot growers. Drug dealers can also launder money by buying groceries....gas....paying rent.....dispensaries can only do this so much....
ReplyDeleteYou dont have to tell a bank where you got $500 in cash you are depositing...they don't ask and when they do, the answer is I sold somethong or I decided to put savings in the bank....this is true for snall deposits...wont work for a dispensary, thus banks and those in need of local lending loose with the current regs. The xomments here seem to be pretending this is a new thing, this has already been done 1000s of times. They are not druggies, they are your neighbors, they look as liberal as you, have kids, etc. In colorado, you can stop by the dispensary at 3 pm and see 5 people, then go to the dance recital at 7 and see the same people...because they are the kids' parents. They will not hold back paving money over weed and who wants to live in a world where you bow whenever they say....lots of ignorance in comments, one trip to a legal state would be informative, perhaps some town officials should go to Co or Wa and see that no one cares except government.
ReplyDeleteCan they please ban whatever Ed is smoking
ReplyDeleteYou can also do payroll in cash. We did this for years as employees were paid out of the retail drawer and recorded the pay. This was after they calculated their own paystubs like adults....so the answer is "I earned it"
ReplyDeleteIs "Ed" a code for unwanted facts?
I'm just waiting for the DEA crackdown on this.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livescience.com/53550-marijuana-verbal-memory.html
ReplyDeleteAbout the embezzling comment: it is true that on your tax form you are required to report any money you embezzle.
ReplyDeleteNot that drug money is embezzled. Though it certainly is subject to embezzlement.
No driver's licenses for potheads!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, you would think it was 2007 from some of these comments. Loose your kids, DEA crackdown???. Pot is no longer a drug, it is a revenue generator and not a public safety issue. The days of busts are all but over. Think of Ezra in Noho, the people no longer tolerate the old pot laws, they are above them. You are stuck in the past, thus you are below them. Be glad the days of locking up countless kids are over....but now it will be harder to get a job, given that the govt stopped locking up 1 on 20 of your competitors....
ReplyDeleteSad? Ignorant. Know-it-all. Whatever became of civility? No wonder we're in the awful shape we're in.
ReplyDeleteWhat does "the year 2016" have to do with anything? Oh --i get it-- we're so modern.
ReplyDeleteWhatever. Pot destroys brains, and I'll never have a pothead working for me.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Ed, you can't even employ yourself!
ReplyDeleteJust sayin...
Short Lobster Company does not hire potheads.
ReplyDeleteJust sayin....
January 20, 2017 -- things are going to change.
It may be like Ike sending the 101st into Little Rock,
but even in Amherst, things are going to change.
Just sayin....
Sorry Ed I thought the short lobster thing was a metaphor for one of your personal habits. Are they lower priced because they're short?
ReplyDeleteColorado collected $70 million for the entire year in marijuana tax. Where is the $100 million a month figure coming from? http://time.com/4037604/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue/
ReplyDelete