GreenLeaf Magazine - July 2016
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The Green Mile.<br />
Whether due to campaign contributions or pure ignorance, Boston City Councilors restrict patient access and claim otherwise.<br />
BY<br />
MIKE CRAWFORD<br />
AND<br />
ANDY GAUS<br />
A few weeks ago, on the Boston.com<br />
Morning Show with Kim Carrigan<br />
on WRKO, Boston City Councilor<br />
Tito Jackson was asked by a listener,<br />
“Will you oppose the proposal for a<br />
Boston medical marijuana ban on<br />
new dispensaries within one mile of<br />
an existing zoned site?” The conversation<br />
led to Jackson saying that<br />
some patients are still having difficulty<br />
gaining access to cannabis as a<br />
result of high cost and low accessibility.<br />
The councilor wasn’t sure about<br />
how he would ultimately vote on the<br />
issue, but seemed to understand that<br />
the proposal on the table would hurt<br />
patients.<br />
Others have expressed far less enlightened<br />
viewpoints.<br />
Later the same day, the City Council<br />
considered the zoning proposal,<br />
formally introduced by Councilor<br />
Michael Flaherty, which seeks to<br />
keep new medical facilities — or<br />
future retail stores if marijuana is<br />
legalized through a ballot initiative<br />
in November — from opening within<br />
one mile of an existing dispensary. It<br />
was the first round in the latest series<br />
of clueless Council maneuvers to pit<br />
medical outfits against recreational<br />
shops, precipitating the now-infamous<br />
anti-pot op-ed in the Boston<br />
Globe by Mayor Marty Walsh, Gov<br />
Charlie Baker, and Attorney General<br />
Maura Healey. With some members<br />
expressing concerns and saying they<br />
needed more information, the issue<br />
was delegated to a newly formed<br />
working group set to meet at a later<br />
date.<br />
The ordeal resumed in the Council<br />
chamber on Tuesday, March 1. Since<br />
Flaherty’s amendment to the Boston<br />
Zoning Code was already the subject<br />
of a prior hearing, last week’s<br />
meeting was open to the public but<br />
without an opportunity for people<br />
to offer testimony. On the surface,<br />
that seemed understandable — lord<br />
knows testimony can drag on — but it<br />
made for some frustration. Councilors<br />
conceded that they have no idea<br />
what’s going to be in this upcoming<br />
recreational marijuana initiative.<br />
Meanwhile, marijuana advocates like<br />
Nichole Snow of the Massachusetts<br />
Patient Advocacy Alliance and Will<br />
Luzier of the Campaign to Regulate<br />
Marijuana Like Alcohol, both of<br />
whom know a considerable amount<br />
about the move in play, sat in polite<br />
silence.<br />
This while<br />
councilors<br />
demonstrated<br />
how<br />
much<br />
information<br />
they<br />
lacked<br />
and cited<br />
outdated regulations about dispensary<br />
placement that were changed<br />
months ago by the Department of<br />
Public Health.<br />
Councilor Sal LaMattina of East Boston<br />
urged caution. “The sky hasn’t<br />
fallen in Colorado,” he said, presenting<br />
a chart showing just how restrictive<br />
a mile radius would be in most<br />
parts of the Hub. Likewise, speaking<br />
with audience members after the<br />
meeting, Councilor Mark Ciommo<br />
of Allston-Brighton suggested that it<br />
was, on the whole, time for marijuana<br />
to be legal and regulated.<br />
Overall, none of the councilors expressed<br />
righteous horror at the prospect<br />
of legal recreational marijuana.<br />
Nevertheless, most seemed chiefly<br />
concerned about imaginary threats<br />
posed to residential areas. “I’m not<br />
trying to keep people from smoking<br />
marijuana,” Councilor Frank Baker<br />
of Dorchester said. “I just want to<br />
add an extra layer of protection for<br />
the neighborhoods … It should be<br />
difficult to open a pot shop. If it’s<br />
easy, we’ll have them all over the<br />
place.”<br />
And then there was Flaherty, who<br />
claimed that some mom-and-pop retail<br />
stores in Colorado — hair salons,<br />
J20