WEST SPRINGFIELD — While voters in the Commonwealth in November approved the legalization of recreational marijuana use and sales, West Springfield residents voted against the measure.
Thus, some argue, they should be able to vote on whether the town will allow recreational marijuana dispensaries within the town’s borders.
“It should be a town decision,” said Dean J. Martilli, a West Side resident who is spearheading the effort to put the question of whether to ban recreational marijuana sales in the town. “I don’t understand how the state of Massachusetts is going to force cities and towns to allow people to sell drugs that are (federally) illegal.”
On Nov. 8, Question 4, the measure that legalized possession, use, distribution, and cultivation of marijuana in the Commonwealth, appeared on ballots statewide. Around 53 percent of voters approved the measure with a majority of municipalities opting for legalization, according to data from Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.
But the statewide vote does not necessarily reflect the attitudes of West Springfield, a town Martilli describes as conservative-leaning, which rejected the measure by a 3.6 percent margin, according to a Boston Globe community-by-community map.
The Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy -made up of 17 members of the state House and Senate- is currently meeting regularly on Beacon Hill to hammer out details ahead of July 1, 2018, when retail marijuana stores will be able to set up shop.
In West Springfield, there is a moratorium on recreational marijuana stores which lasts through Dec. 31, 2018, about six months longer than the state’s moratorium, which was intended to allow legislators to sort out the proice.
As of now, the committee has not established a concrete method allowing cities and towns to opt out of allowing recreational marijuana businesses to open within their municipality. But Martilli fears that waiting too long could imperil local efforts to ban such sales.
“No one is taking a proactive approach,” Martilli said. “My concern is that we’re rushing into this.”
Among his apprehensions is the possibility that the two medical marijuana dispensaries currently in West Springfield may be summarily allowed to sell the drug for recreational purposes.
But public hearings and the town’s ultimate approval of these facilities were based on the premise they would only be allowed to sell to patients prescribed to it.
But West Springfield Mayor William Reichelt said there has, so far, been little public outcry for bylaws that would limit or ban recreational marijuana sales in town.
However, the issue could pick up steam as the date on which legal recreational sales can begin draws closer.
“I think it’s early, and we need to discuss it,” said Reichelt, who believes the question will likely appear on West Springfield’s November election ballot.
The discussion of how the state should allow cities and towns to opt in or out of recreational sales has come up on the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy, said state Sen. James Welch, a Democrat who holds a seat on the committee and whose district includes West Springfield.
It is not yet clear when the committee will finalize laws regulating the budding marijuana industry in the Commonwealth, said Welch, who added that he supports the idea of cities and towns being able to opt out. But the process for a local opt in or out option is among the committee’s largest concerns.
“I think whatever legislation we put forward should have a clear path to allow communities to make up their minds on how they want to proceed,” Welch said in an interview.
Welch added that he thinks that medical dispensaries should not be automatically allowed to operate as retail recreational stores, since town approval of medicinal marijuana does not necessarily translate to an endorsement of recreational sales.
“It is different than the recreational, so I am hopeful that in the legislation we will have something that separates the two,” Welch said.
As of now, town officials in West Springfield are seeking clarification regarding how they can put the question of whether to allow recreational marijuana businesses in town up to voters, said West Springfield Town Council President George D. Condon III.
At the moment, the town is moving carefully to make sure that if and when West Springfield passes any local legislation related to recreational marijuana, they do it within state guidelines.
“My thought is we’ll put together the best possible process that we know how,” Condon said in an interview. “There’s no clear cut direction on it… I think everyone’s moving forward, but cautiously.”
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