Friday, December 23, 2016

A Plethora Of Pot

Pot is now legal to grow in Massachusetts

The Amherst Select Board, keepers of the public way, is greatly concerned about the implementation of recreational pot which is already legal to grow and share as long as you don't charge for it (wink, wink). 

In their official letter to our good friend Senate President Stan Rosenberg and Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo they outline four requests:

(1) Allow a local municipality an easy way (Town Meeting) to delay recreation sales.

(2) Allow a local municipality an easy way (Town Meeting) to limit the number and location of recreational pot establishments.

(3) Rethink the "home grown" provision so Amherst is not overrun by free recreational pot.

(4) Rethink the 2% maximum local option sales tax on retailers.

The current law allows Amherst to limit the number of recreational pot permits to (a) either no more than the number of medical permits issued or (b) 20% the number of alcohol sales permits.


 55 University Drive received Special Permit from ZBA on June 30th

The Select Board issued four "Letters of Support" for medical marijuana businesses already and two of them have gained the necessary Special Permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

But ZBA Chair Mark Parent strongly suggested he would not approve any more than two based on market projections for medical marijuana in Amherst.


169 Meadow Street, N. Amherst received Special Permit July 21st

And Alisa Brewer pegged the number of recreational pot permits that could be issued based on 20% of alcohol permits at three.

Either provision requires a referendum vote at our local election and either provision can be added to the ballot with a simple majority vote of the Select Board.

So at the very least the Select Board should place the limiting provision on the upcoming end of March local election ballot and if they want the least number of recreational permits, tie it to the number of Medical permits issued which may very well end up being only two. 

And to limit it even further simply grant the two medical facilities those two recreation permits, which the state already seems to condone.

Since the revenue to the town is based on a percent of sales (2%) the tax revenues to the town stays the same if it's 2 facilities satisfying the market or 22.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

So the town is trying to undermine the voters and their individual will and their business oportunities....

....so business as usual in Amherst....still shameful.

And again, pretending like this has not been done before...ignoring what has been learned elsewhere...that is the opposite of educated, literally.

Anyone consider putting this much effort to stop slackers from running people over in their driveways, that has shown to be more of a safety issue locally?

Anonymous said...

20% percent of alcohol permits. Where does this percentage come from? Is it just arbitrary?

Dr. Ed said...

The mistake was in issuing the four letters of support.

The ZBA is gonna get sued, there's enough money to make it worthwhile, and if Amherst was ever going to limit this to only two, the time/place to do that was at the Selectboard.

The advantage of having four is that you can more easily shut one or two down for cause if you ever need to. e.g. repeatedly selling to minors.

Larry Kelley said...

Yes the 20% figure is arbitrary and may make sense for most of the state but as the SB letter to Stan points out Amherst has a pretty unique demographic.

Anonymous said...

Since pot is legal, it should the same as alcohol retailers.

Anonymous said...

When did we get to the point when the town, vs. experienced and vested business owners deciding on supply and demand?

We have had a good working system for some time to handle this in the US, competition with failure of poor performers.

If you limit competition, how will be Amherst not end up with inferior service and products ....and a sustained black market. The black market is strong in CO where such restrictions limited quality and availibility. The poor folks of Denver go to the black market for lower prices and the rich folks of Vail and Aspen go to the black market for higher quality and home delivery. The black market listens to each demand as the towns listens to no one.

I guess this is just a gift to black market dealers and consumers, which is also good for local businesses suppling them like grocery stores, hardware stores, grow stores and banks who will get the deposits...to homeowners that can borrow those deposits to be homeowners.

In retrospect, the black market worked really well, shut them all down and no one will have to deal with these silly restrictions. The only pot problem we used to have was police and regardless of dispensaries, they are pretty powerless on pot now.

Anonymous said...

Aren't ETOH licenses bases on population?

Anonymous said...

Hey
Ed saying someone is gonna get sued !!!
Ed is 0 for ???? in his someone is gonna get sued predictions :)

Dr. Ed said...

Actually, Ed isn't.

Not to confuse you with facts...

Anonymous said...

Who, like, "literally" said anything about "educated?"

Anonymous said...

Free market capitalism.

Anonymous said...

Weed really is amazing. It turns Amherst liberals into hard-line free market supporters.

Anonymous said...

I would presume " No smoking " zones for apartments and rental units will become the norm-putting the kibosh on the lady in apt 3G and her late night hubby fouling your approximate peace-then it's disturbing the peace charges !!!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of 'no smoking,' what does the Surgeon General have to say about pot smoking? Will we see the pictures of the diseased gums and lungs on pot baggies?

Anonymous said...

Ed, do you ever stop babbling?

Anonymous said...

Do you ever stop complaining?

Dr. Ed said...

"Ed, do you ever stop babbling?"

I'd have to start, first.

Personally, I'm just waiting until Fentanol-"enhanced" pot appears, with all of the consequences.

Anonymous said...

If it ever does, it's all the more argument for regulated pot stores.

Dr. Ed said...

As requested: http://patch.com/massachusetts/brockton/brockton-man-charged-intending-sell-fentanyl-laced-marijuana

Fentanyl is a super-power Opiate, much stronger than Heroin, that is linked to a lot of the Overdose deaths in Massachusetts. It's what killed Michael Jackson.

It's sprayed on pot to make it more powerful, and this a big problem in both the Dakotas and British Columbia, likely elsewhere. And for some reason, there is a lot of Fentanol in Massachusetts, and it is relatively cheap -- or at least the cops are saying this, I doubt they're lying.

Well, does anyone honestly not expect this to start showing up in Amherst?
Remember those under 21 can't buy it legally -- but is there a penalty for underaged possession?

Anonymous said...

Ed has extra time on his hands to post..
His mom is off this week from work so he does;t have to do the dishes to pay the rent

Anonymous said...

Yes there is, and you would know that if you even lived in our state.

Anonymous said...

Why do you have this weird obsession with Amherst?

Anonymous said...

3:55 makes good point. Are we to think that rolling up something in paper, setting it on fire and sucking in and holding in the smoke is good for the body? Now I know you don't have to smoke it, but most do. And I know that you don't have to hold it in. But most do. Anyone ever cleaned a pot pipe? Picture the lungs.

Anonymous said...

Not so much obsessed with the town, but with the high entertainment value of its politics and such.

Mommy, did you and daddy trash this place? said...

"Why do you have this weird obsession with Amherst?"



Because garbage dumps are such ammmm-mazing places for trash pickin!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWv1cjm9epk



-Squeaky Squeaks


p.s. Flush.

Anonymous said...

Is America about safety or freedom or the truth?

I cannot tell from the article or comments.

Laced weed is a byproduct of prohibition and the people that supported it, not something we really worry about anymore now that folks have some limited weed rights. Plus, if you know your provider (regardless of product), most consumer protection issues are solved. Now that police cannot arrest you for having your legally restricted small amount of weed, there is very little risk to using weed anymore.

Perhaps in a generation or two, people will be more afraid of crime than the police, like before the drug war. It would be refreshing to see police get some of their good reputation back. Still shame (shame, shame) on those (police, parents, community members) that participated in the drug war and made the US the #1 prison country by any measurement and locked up our kids like never before - your legacy will be with us for generations. Nothing could have been less safe than letting the police go after our families like this under the guise of the law.

Anonymous said...

Relax buddy. Nobody's locking up our kids.

Dr. Ed said...

"Relax buddy. Nobody's locking up our kids."

Enku Gelaye is doing it, and while I think she deserves to burn in Hell for it, it's only a matter of time until she causes something really bad to happen.

Anonymous said...

The new drug-related crime will be evasion of the taxes due on the sale and resale of this crop.

Anonymous said...

This is where Mr Ed usually makes some foolish comment about " just wait until (fill in the blank) sue the Town,UMass, Larrys Blog, whatever, and then of course it will never happen !!!

Anonymous said...

Relax buddy. Nobody's locking up our kids.

December 27, 2016 at 1:04 PM

^^^ now that is funny and sad, as this is not reflected in the facts....and they really are our kids...and families....and they are locked up here more than anywhere....still.

Anonymous said...

I would not feel so alone.....



Anonymous said...

Reminder - the reason Ed's lawsuit predictions do not come true are not because they don't have standing.

...it is because it typically costs $15-50k to bring a lawsuit to court with proper legal council a few grand just to make decent threats at $300 plus per hour for a decent lawyer. We, as a society, put this barrier in front of legal issues that are too complicated for police to handle. Police are there for violent crimes (murder, rape) and petty crimes (bread theft, crowd control). They solve well under 50% of those anyway. We all know or should know that MOST CRIMES ARE NOT SOLVED and the criminal just gets away with it. That is most murders, most rapes, most bread thefts.

Something as complicated as a clearly breached contract or a violation of most of your rights...and you are on your own forking up the funds. Thus, enforcement of this stuff is even lower than the low statistics police hold.

This is a reflection on society more than Ed.

I also find it funny that those that were fine with locking up drug users only so many months ago, now feel that they have a right to the tax revenue of these individuals' business activities. How about a tax for anyone that supported the drug war or still does, or how about a few years a prison so you can feel what you were doling out - liberally.

Anonymous said...

The left. Endlessly paranoid. Nobody's locking you up. Relax, bud.

Anonymous said...

Literally, the word literally is literally used incorectly 90% of the literal time. Literally.

Anonymous said...

We don't lock me up, we lock up folks in their 20s, religiously (and by the left).

5% of Americans in their 20s go to prison or jail. 10% if you are a black male.

We lock up more than any country in the world, by # or %.

But in reality, it is more important that we use grammar correctly, though it was used correctly above as ignoring the lessons of the past is literally the opposite of education as education is learning from the lessons of the past. Also, using a words incorrectly enough times consistently changes their meaning. Kids use hustle to mean working hard vs. taking advantage of someone or rushing someone. Kids say 100(%) to say they are doing a thorough job, but we used to say 110%. Kids say grind when they are working hard, when we use that word to talk about breaking something up mechanically. The lesson is that kids do not work hard today, so they need more words to pretend they are. Perhaps they learned from folks that thought we were not locking up our friends and neighbors...you know, the ignorant.

Open up a pot store and only sell to adults, thus no real danger....and you will find out who is locked up.

Anonymous said...

Annon. 11:54 or Ed 11:54
Not sure where to begin because your entire statement is inaccurate
Lawsuits only cost the amount to file. Lawyers take a % of the winnings if successful.
Depending on the crime, solvability depends on the agency. NYPD solves 76% of homocides, Chicago, not so great, because that city is a lost democtratic cause.

Anonymous said...

The Democrat party is a lost democratic cause.

Dr. Ed said...

11:54 wasn't me, although I agree.

And as a student of history, I know what it teaches me: a revolution of some sort is imminent.

Maybe Trump will defuse a violent one the way that FDR and Washington did -- I'm hoping.

But the point 11:54 doesn't quite make is that when the state no longer is the arbitrator of disputes, power shifts to those firums where people thinh their disputes will be fairly adjudicated.

How do you think the Mafia came into being????