AMHERST — When retail marijuana shops open in 2018, the town will need to hire two additional police officers and four emergency medical responders, according to the recreational marijuana strategy proposal from Geoff Kravitz, the town’s economic development director.
He was asked to look into how legalization will affect the town as well as what officials need to do to prepare for when the shops open. He will talk to the Select Board about his proposal at its meeting Wednesday night.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the main purpose of the discussion is to look at “what we should be focusing on going forward.” Bockelman said implementation “is a moving target,” making the process difficult. “Amherst is ground zero” when it comes to interest, he said. “We have to be alert to what’s going on.”
Voters in November agreed to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults over the age of 21. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
Retail marijuana sales are slated to start on July 1, 2018. They were originally set for January 2018, but Massachusetts lawmakers quickly enacted a six-month delay, giving themselves time to make additional changes.
Amherst officials want even more time.
In determining the impact on the town, Kravitz in his memo wrote that he expects that the six additional employees including benefits would cost about $552,000 annually.
“I’ve reached out to other Department Heads and UMass to help inform this estimate,” he wrote.
The additional police would be needed to conduct investigations into the gray and black markets, as well as issues related to edibles including excessive and underage consumption, he wrote.
He said the recreational marijuana market in Amherst would need to be $27.6 million to cover those costs, based on the 2 percent local tax on the sales, something Town Meeting would have to address.
Other officials in a letter to the state wrote that the 2 percent tax is too low.
Also in his memo, Kravitz said the town will need to present other bylaws that would address zoning, a temporary moratorium on recreational marijuana establishments, a limitation on the number of recreational marijuana establishments and public health bylaws and regulations.
The goal would be to address these issues at the fall town meeting, he wrote.
Town officials, meanwhile, have written to Senate President Stan Rosenberg asking that he add a section to the law allowing local communities to adopt, through the normal local legislative process, a temporary moratorium on recreational marijuana establishments.
Town officials say they need a six- to 12-month window from the time final regulations have been adopted to when the Cannabis Control Commission begins to consider applications.
Town officials are particularly concerned because the median age of an Amherst resident is 21.6 years old, nearly two decades younger than the median age of the Massachusetts population in general, which is 39.2 years.
Town officials wrote that 30 percent of the town’s population is under the age of 20 and more than 65 percent is under the age of 25. Many are students at UMass, Amherst College or Hampshire College.
“With such a large population so close to the legal age for ingesting marijuana, we are particularly concerned that we won’t have sufficient time to adequately address the health and safety concerns within the timeframe included in the law,” states the letter to the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy signed by Select Board chairwoman Alisa Brewer, board member Andrew Steinberg and Kravitz.
credit:masslive.com