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Pot fight looms in Allston
By adamg on Thu, 06/02/2016 - 8:51am
The Bulletin reports two groups are seeking to open medical dispensaries on Harvard Avenue in Allston.
The problem is that skittish city officials, who keep saying they want to back the will of the people and allow dispensaries, keep finding ways to limit where they can operate. And in this case, the two dispensaries would be closer to each other than allowed under an ordinance approved by the City Council in March.
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Comments
Safer than booze,
yet treated like black tar heroin.
By Who?
The dispensary argument seem more like what happens whenever a new liquor store wants to open.
Some people are opposed to pot but it's been a while since I've heard those adamantly opposed to pot talk as if it was as bad as opium. Even Marty knows it isn't heroin.
I'm in favor of legalization but the concerns about smoke and smell plus the rise in people who are doing stupid things while high are still valid concerns, just as they are with other drugs.
Opponents like Gov Baker have
Opponents like Gov Baker have said with the heroin crisis in our country (he calls it by the more suburban friendly opiod crisis) that now is not the time to to legalize marijuana. That seems to be equating the two.
Maybe
He says opioids because the epidemic involves more than heroin.
In Allston? Really?
Read your response again. Doing stupid things while high? IT'S ALLSTON GUY, people are doing stupid stuff while high all day every day. What does a Medical dispensary have to do with that? Allston has a couple of CVS stores and a Walgreens, where people go to get their prescription painkillers. No one seems to give a shit. Dispensaries also do not allow smoking in or around them, so your point there is also BS. I mean, there are likely at LEAST 50 dope dealers residing in Allston and hundreds if not thousands of households where pot is smoked regularly. Are there as many police reports complaining about smoke/smells? Shooting from the hip here but I would bet my paycheck the answer is no.
The arguments against the dispensaries are weak sauce, bottom line. Spend a day walking around Los Angeles sometime, you will likely walk past several dispensaries and not even know it. Really not a big deal.
The dispensary argument seem
Because the city council has to hold hearings for every new liquor store? Oh wait, they don't.
Not the city council ...
But every new liquor store foes have to go before the licensing board for a hearing.
Sources please. Please don't
Sources please. Please don't drive drunk OR stoned!
Marty Walsh
Just go look up what kind of stupid has mushed out of his mouth when it comes to weed.
Complete moron on the subject, but still shares his ill-informed "opinions" as if they were fact.
BTW - legal medical weed cuts opioid deaths. Use google - its your friend.
The Bulletin is a little
The Bulletin is a little behind probably due to its printing deadline. The Council hearing took place yesterday about the Mayflower Medicinals proposal. By law, the Council must vote to not oppose the proposal to move it forward apparently. It got really awkward when the owner of the other proposed dispensary showed up as part of public testimony and started bashing his opponent.
Thanks, and sorry I missed that
It's always fun when competitors stand up to testify-bash. Happens at liquor-store licensing hearings sometimes.
Because nobody smokes pot in
Because nobody smokes pot in Allston already!
what a waste
Mass could have several years of revenue at this point.
How true is that?
I've seen news articles countering such statements. If I remember correctly, something along the lines of legal marijuana costing more, so the black market still exists.
I don't know enough about this topic to even know which sources to trust.
didn't it work in colorado?
i highly doubt that MA would be kind enough to give a 2.9% tax rate like CO.
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-tax-data
seems like the only thing that is costing us more is MA politicians pontificating.
Agreed
Lots of stuff about Colorado out there about how much money they are making. Same with Washington State and Oregon.
Good sources of info too about it.. just google. It's all within your finger tips.
2.9% is only part of it
That 2.9% is only one portion of the taxes. Among others, there's a 15% excise tax that goes directly to funding public schools.
I saw a headline somewhere that legalized MJ in Massachusetts is projecting to be a $1bn industry by 2020. Politicians should be taking their carving knives to the 40%-50% tax on that, funding schools, public transit and support services for all substance addictions (even policing if they insist; the money is there) — but instead they cannot get the green scare of reefer madness out of their heads. Not only do they not represent the majority consensus, they are proving themselves entirely unfit to address the current and mounting needs of the state. Looking backward to the war on drugs of the '80s, and ignoring innovative ways (that landed in their laps!) to fund projects.
I should mention though that this specific issue is about a medical marijuana dispensary, which is an entirely separate matter from outright legalization.
If consumers preferred the
If consumers preferred the black market then I don't think all these companies would be fighting to open, and the few that have been able to opened would be empty. They are not.
Two-pronged action on the black market
1. people will (and do) pay extra for legal market weed. Why? They know that part of that price comes back to their community, but it also supports weed being legal.
The black market doesn't make edibles, either
2. There is a supply side attack on the black market here, too, and it doesn't get the attention that it deserves. All that weed is legally grown under supervision in the state that sells it. That huge legal supply, channeled and carefully tracked through legal sales outlets, massively changes the dynamics of the black market. It makes smuggling economically less appealing because the demand for illegal weed drops and because the locally-produced supply is actually cheaper.
Quality Control
Legally grown/sold is also only weed - not weed + other drugs that the seller sells and wants more buyers for.
This line of thinking is BS for a few reasons
The foremost being that people who want pot are going to get it. Put me in any city in America and it will be in my hands in under an hour. That's the bottom line. Now, whether the state wants a cut of that money or not is up to them. Not to mention filling storefronts, and creating legitimate, payroll-taxable jobs.
All the red tape thrown out there is just slowing down the process and adding years of profit to the black market's slates.
By the way, all that black market money is leaving the state. Wave goodbye. Bye money! Bye bye! Surplus pot from states where Medical/Recreational is legal has been pouring into the eastern seaboard for years now. Everyone has "a friend in Cali/wherever" who is shipping small to fairly large amounts of pot to MA via UPS and FedEx (Great Mitch Hedberg line: Fed Ex guy is a drug dealer and don't even know it!)
Keep in mind in MA we are talking about MEDICINAL POT ONLY. These dispensaries do not address recreational use (well, not really) which will still be serviced by the black market.
Recreational pot is on the ballot for 2016 and we haven't even sorted out medicinal voted in like 8 years ago. One can count on one hand the number of dispensaries open in the state, and most medical patients are serviced by delivery services which, as far as I have heard, are just as sketchy as the Allston drug dealing 20-something we get now anyways.
Final point: Black Market WILL ALWAYS EXIST because it is a plant that requires minimal processing to enjoy. Taxed weed is always gonna run in the neighborhood of current market prices. Weed someone grows in their yard can be sold for less. Weed grown on large scale by cartels foe even less, the investment/return on this plant is EXTREMELY FAVORABLE. Same can be said for Tomatoes, plenty of un-regulated, black market tomatoes eaten every year too. Only they do not command $2k per pound (low end).
I'm curious to find out much
I'm curious to find out much a joint costs? How much for a legal one here vs colorado?
a joint? you don't really buy
a joint? you don't really buy a joint at a time. you can buy a gram of weed, which will run you between $10 and $20 depending on quality. you can roll 2-4 joints from that depending on size.
typically people will buy 1/8th of an ounce (3.3 grams) of marijuana at a time, or 1/4 of an ounce. obviously people buy more but those are pretty standard quantities for recreational users. an 8th can cost between $30 and $60 depending on quality. i had paid $50 and 8th for very high quality bud in CO that i would have paid $60 for off the street anywhere in new england.
Mayflower Medicinals has Better Proposal
Mayflower Medicinals is more professional and there location is practically in Brookline. I vote for them!
Balance
For every dispensary, we should get a new bakery... or a dumpling shop, yeah... we could use a nice dumpling shop....
Oh yea....
Remember the Soul Bakery? Their stuffed beef buns were heavenly.