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Liquor stores are open so
Liquor stores are open so should Marijuana shops. Honestly I realize those with medical cards can still get access but some of else use it to self soothe.
The shop I went to was being very responsible before they got shut down. Staff was geared up, they had extra security. They only did pre-orders and there was tape everywhere showing 6 feet. This was way before anyone else was even thinking to do that. I even saw them turn someone away because they were hacking too much. At the time it seemed draconian but nobody would contest that now. Instead of shutting these places down other stores should instead learn from what they have learned and copy them.
I don't inhale a Sam Adams
I don't inhale a Sam Adams through my lungs. Do you understand?
We all
saw this coming a mile away
Hey Baker boomers...
It makes perfect sense. If package stores are supposed to be essential (burp!) then why not dispensaries?
Packies and bodegas are
Packies and bodegas are neighborhood mom & pop shops which also sell food, personal hygiene items, household cleaning supplies and sometimes pet food. Rec pot stores sell... well, just pot for fun and nothing else.
Right
This is why Blanchards & Kappy's must remain open -- because they are providing all these other essential goods.
(I can't imagine a weaker argument than this one for insisting alcohol sales be allowed but banning marijuana sales.)
Employment
Liquor stores employee an order of magnitude more people in MA. Not sure if that's his reasoning but it would be notable difference between the two.
I think the timing of legalizing weed is the reason.
Quite simply, dispensaries are the only places that you can by weed. You can buy alcohol at supermarkets, gas stations, etc. You can also buy tobacco products at those same places. If this was 2040 and you could buy weed at a supermarket, there wouldn't be as many dispensaries and closing them probably wouldn't even be an issue (like smoke shops today)
Also if you really need it to survive, you should have a medical card.
I have heard there are other parts of the country where large stores (Walmart, etc) are not allowed to sell "non essential" goods since other stores that may specialize in those goods are deemed non essential and are closed. I'm guessing in Massachusetts we simply don't want to go through that much trouble in doing that so we have what we have now.
Also, not that hard to get a medical card here. Someone very close to me told their doctor that they have "trouble sleeping" and bam, medical card within a few weeks. Not sure if that is true this month with government agencies shutting down as well.
If you really need booze to
If you really need booze to survive maybe you should be in AA.
A medical card is expensive AND some ppl don't want to have to register and be in a gov't database. Imagine the uproar if boozers had to register.
I recently read there soon could be about 2k cannabis workers laid off due to this decision. It also mean the shops that only sell rec cannabis have the high (no pun intended) probability of going out of business after having to jump through years of incredible hoops to even open.
Meh.
Many liquor stores and supermarkets swipe your ID no matter what. And yea, lots of drug addicts and alcoholics should be in treatments but it’s still a struggle and not as simple as “just going to AA”.
Hey it sucks, but bartenders, barbers, athletic trainers, baristas, etc are all in the same boat “pot workers” aren’t special, that’s the point.
Doritos
and candy. That's what the 2 liquor stores near me on blue hill ave sell. How is that any different from edibles at a pot shop?
When an alcoholic can't get
When an alcoholic can't get their booze, they have physical symptoms that often lead to an ICU bed. Since we can rely on neither 1) alcoholics stocking up and rationing; 2) having enough ICU beds, the liquor stores stay open.
Since not having pot doesn't cause one to need an ICU bed, it's not "essential". Plus the whole out-of-staters thing, which could probably be remedied pretty easily with extra ID requirements.
With all of the death and
With all of the death and suffering I would prefer the city's focus be on saving lives, protecting out first responders, feeding those with food insecurity and making sure the homeless are taken care of... wow, I'm shocked by the cruel selfishness of this.
While Mass. local spirit
While Mass. local spirit distillers and breweries have teamed up to aid citizens and medical workers to make much-needed hand sanitzers, rec pot shops distract life-saving efforts and state resources by filing a lawsuit against the people of Massachusetts during a time when thousands are gravely ill and countless more are diagnosed every day. Screw you!
Get real...
The only reason package stores are open is that some people will die without using their product recreationally. Booze is no better than cigarettes and just as damaging to society
Okay, buddy. Did you not
Okay, buddy. Did you not listen to the part where covid19 attacks the lungs? Smoking puts you at additional risk. Facts matter during a pandemic.
Why aren’t ciggs illegal then
Why aren’t ciggs illegal then?
Get a medical pot card and
Get a medical pot card and calm down chief.
Why should they have to? Are
Why should they have to? Are there medical alcohol cards during this pandemic? Oh ok
MA ID’s only. It’s really
MA ID’s only. It’s really that simple. I think we could really use the high tax on recreational weed to help out the economy also.
News Flash...One of the major
News Flash...One of the major dispensaries is making hand sanitizer for medical personnel. It's not an and/or. No difference between booze and weed.
I think Charlie's
I think Charlie's administration is going to get eaten alive by lawsuits once all the facts come out. Serious errors and a lack of preparedness by the state are going to come to light and trying to play the blame game on the feds isn't going to be the instant get out of any responsibility card Charlie's trying to play.
The state has spent a shit ton of money on post 9/11 preparedness and on MEMA with nothing to show. Where did that money go? Did the state foolishly dispose of or auction supplies and equipment off like CA, and NYC did? Why has the State DPH been so far behind on testing when they have the machines other states only dream of? There's a lot of dropped balls that need to be picked up.
I strongly suspect the ACLU, FIRE, SAF, and the Institute for Justice are going to have a field day with towns, cities, states, and individual agencies which went on pandemic power trip.
Our supplies
Were hijacked by the Federal Administration. We did not get a refund.
Why did the state not have
Why did the state not have its own stockpile to begin with?
I strongly suspect the state had one post 9/11 and ceased maintaining it for other budget priorities. Now that the Commonwealth got caught with their pants down the response is to play "THE FEDS ATE MY HOMEWORK!" and hope no reporters go digging for the truth.
With all the hospitals and MEMA there should have been plenty of stockpiled medical supplies in the state to last a month. Not making any sense why all of a sudden there's a two week interruption in supply and everything is gone. Massachusetts should have been better prepared than most states because of our wealth and number of medical facilities. Instead we have Charlie flopping around crying in front of podiums about the feds unable to ride to the rescue and asking wealthy sports teams to bail us out.
Bad decisions were made at the state level which put the Commonwealth at the mercy of the feds fickle ability or inability to provide back-up supplies as requested. The managers, legislators, governors, administrators, and whatnot which are responsible in Massachusetts need to be held accountable for that.
Recreational marijuana is not essential.
Neither are tobacco products.
Are there any tobacconists or cigar shops currently open?
If not, I don't see what that has to do with anything here.
Tobacco shops
Robbins Tobacco in Davis Square was open last night. I can't think of ANY reason this falls under 'essential business'.
Same reason coffee shops are open.
People gotta get their fix.
Coffee is considered to be food
And yet it isn't.
Coffee is a drug, albeit a legal and fairly harmless one. It has essentially no nutritional value.
If you need to stay awake and
If you need to stay awake and alert, say because you're a doctor or a nurse and you've been working double-time during a pandemic, you're going to drink a cup of coffee to re-energize, not smoke a joint.
...
"Recreational marijuana is not essential."
Exactly and neither is alcohol. Let's be consistent and not get sued
As amazing as "essential
As amazing as "essential package stores" may seem to the casual observer, it seems there is some legitimate consideration to the impact of the D-Ts - to the people drying out as well as to a health system which doesn't need an extra set of problems at the moment. There are a lot of problems but still some critically important truth in that.
---
That being the case, every time I read a "recreational marijuana shops should be open/essential if package stores are open/essential" comment, I wonder if the person was one of those who advocated/defended recreational marijuana legalization on the basis of marijuana being "non-addictive" or "less addictive"
I notice that you did not
I notice that you did not include liquor stores in your professional assessment of what is and what isn't essential. Why is that?
If cannabis isn't essential nether is booze. Baker has always been for cannabis prohibition and you can see it in his hypocritical assessment that booze is acceptable but cannabis isn't.
Hers's the thing: you can
Hers's the thing: you can still buy pot. Just say you have headaches and get a medical pot card.
without booze, some alcoholics can get deathly sick
that will clog already stressed hospital resources
without weed, potheads just get annoying
fill disclosure: I am a total pothead but let's be real here, enough with the weed questions. We all know someone who has a card or knows of a guy so let's just pretend it's a couple years ago and you gotta (at worst) make a couple phone calls
Delirium Tremors
Severe alcoholics can die if the suddenly withdraw from alcohol. That means more hospitalizations during a time when we need to focus on Covid19.
heavy boozers...
can die if they do not drink. some may only need to be hospitalized, which is where we don't want them right now. Pot is not addictive, I don't understand why people care.
Some people rely on pot to
Some people rely on pot to relax instead of drinking a few glasses of wine. I think people just feel like it’s unfair and I can totally understand why they would feel this way. It’s like shit we’re all stressed and scared and Baker is taking that right to smoke legally away. I don’t smoke but I have family members that prefer it over alcohol. I guess just imagine if all you beer drinkers could no longer legally buy it during coronavirus. Would kinda suck right?
I've been
too sick to drink, maybe I shoulda toked :P
Or self isolated.
Or self isolated.
Alcohol helps me sleep.
I would have gotten a medical card on my 21st birthday.
(You can get a medical marijuana card at age 18 in MA).
Perhaps it might be about "Recreational Travel"
Pot heads and others who recreate with a joint, bong, etc., rejoiced at the probably ill-considered vote to legalize Marijuana in MA.
However "you" don't seem to understand that because your recreation is still not Federally Legal and that MA has been rationing the licenses to sell -- that the rare place selling Recreational Marijuana is still an "Attractor" in a way that the local liquor store is not.
The last thing we need now is to divert police resources to monitor and control the queuing of people traveling from all around MA and beyond just to get a few tokes.
And of course -- If its so critical for you -- just like when it was illegal you can always grow your own
By the way -- I'm sure that someone toking on a joint [aka inhaling and exhaling smoke] is bound to be "good" in the context of a virus that affects the lungs