Town meeting voters will consider reversing ban on retail marijuana sales
/By Dolores Sauca Lorusso
A citizen’s petition headed to town meeting will ask voters to amend the zoning bylaw and overturn a five-year old ban on retail marijuana sales in Hull.
The proposal would allow Alternative Compassion Services (ACS), the town’s existing medical marijuana dispensary, to add adult-use retail sales. Adding retail sales will require a special permit issued by the planning board and a license granted by the select board.
Meghan Sylvester, owner of Hullistic Health and Wellness at 175 George Washington Blvd., filed the petition to allow ACS, which has been operating in town for the required one-year minimum, to obtain the right for adult-use retail sales.
Sylvester, a business neighbor to ACS, says she “has gotten to know the owner and witness the value of the quality product they provide to our community at large. The major reason I brought forth this petition is I would like to see ACS thrive and continue to serve patients in a health-based way that is beneficial. … There is also the tax revenue that will be lost without having these recreational sales.”
“We are a small, locally run company and support other local businesses and charities. Our adult-use license will automatically bring 3% of the 20% state tax into town,” ACS Outreach Coordinator Ellen Kasper said in a recent email to The Times. “Hull was a ‘yes’ town in the statewide cannabis legalization in 2016. We feel this reflects a positive sentiment towards regulated cannabis and hope that the ban will be successfully overturned at town meeting in May.”
Anne Murray of Summit Avenue reminded the planning board and packed room of attendees that in 2018 there was a “large outcry in town against recreational marijuana.” She continued to “speak against the article,” but made sure it was clear to the group she is very much for medical marijuana, but not retail sales.
Voters narrowly rejected retail marijuana when two ballot questions were approved at special election in March 2018. The first question, to amend the town’s general bylaws and ban the sale, cultivation and testing of recreational marijuana, passed by a 1,010 to 856 vote. The second question, to amend zoning bylaws prohibiting marijuana retail shops, was approved 1,027 to 833.
“I don’t want to see it expand into recreational. The town has enough issues and I only think it will bring more issues,” Murray said. “When the zoning went through, it went through with people in abutting areas not knowing what was planned for that. I don’t live near there; my concern is for people I know over there who were, quite frankly, blindsided by it.”
Planning board Chair Harry Hibbard interjected: “I have to address that. Anyone who was blindsided by that was not paying attention. We held plenty of hearings, there was an extensive education process around it. … As to bringing in problems, I have been saying this for years now, and I will continue to say it. It is not going to bring in the bad element; it is going to bring in the financial guys from Cohasset and the lawyers from Hingham.”
ACS President and CEO Steve Werther was unable to attend the planning board meeting on March 22.
“I don’t see it as disruptive. Cannabis has been legal for years. It is going on and no one has noticed,” he said in a phone interview. “We have been in business in Bridgewater for five years and have tremendous experience. … The positive reasons outweigh any negative side effects. Also, look at the rest of the state. There have not been any problems.”
Janice Bissex of Glen Street in Melrose drove an hour and a half to attend the planning board meeting, where she stood for a couple of hours until her message was heard. She explained that she spent most of her life being opposed to medical marijuana.
“Frankly I grew up in the ‘just say no’ generation,” she said.
It wasn’t until her 85-year-old father was in severe pain and had a very poor reaction to opioids that Bissex began to research medical marijuana, learning it has been used “medicinally for like 1,000 years and only been illegal for 80 years.” Now, after leaving her business of 15 years, she is a licensed holistic cannabis practitioner, helping people with “pain, anxiety, insomnia, autoimmune diseases and all the things that find relief using medical cannabis.”
As the owner of Jannabis Wellness product, Bissex wanted to show her support for ACS.
“I have visited dozens of dispensaries around the country and Massachusetts, and I have to say your little dispensary here in Hull is probably the best,” she said. “Melrose receives $1.6 million in tax revenue from their one dispensary. So economically it is a good idea, but more than that, it is a service that is being provided that is really top quality.”
Patrick Finn of Telegraph Avenue asked the board to “recommend favorable action on this article…For anyone that has any bias against cannabis, I would say take that out of the equation and look at it as a simple town of Hull business wanting to expand and survive.”
“This is a citizen’s petition, and it goes to town meeting regardless of what we [the planning board] think, the select board thinks, or the advisory board thinks,” Hibbard said.
Werther said ACS will hold outreach events for residents to ask questions.
“We want to make as many people comfortable as possible,” he said. “If you don’t agree with us, that is OK. We respect people have different opinions and are happy to talk about it.”
The business has established an FAQ page at www.acscompassion.com, and Werther said he would respond privately to questions emailed to info@acscompassion.com.
Do you have an opinion on this story? Click here to submit a letter to the editor.