‘Landmark’ Boston pot license overhaul becomes law
Mayor Martin Walsh signed a “landmark” pot ordinance into law to overhaul the marijuana approval process in the city, though it’s not clear when the new oversight board will be in place.
Walsh and City Councilor Kim Janey, the author of the ordinance, took a joint victory lap in the form of a Tuesday press conference that culminated in the mayor’s signature.
“This ordinance I’m about to sign will help right the wrongs of the past,” Walsh said shortly before doing so for the “landmark” law change.
The ordinance requires the mayor create a new board to oversee pot licensing, and will give priority to applicants when more than half of the ownership meets various criteria including being black or Latino, having a prior conviction for selling pot and being a Boston resident for at least seven years. It will also require more transparency about where applicants are in the process and how they’re being judged, and would create a fund to help minority pot business hopefuls get started.
The law change also will require half of the 52 possible pot shop licenses allowed in Boston to go to priority applicants. The idea, Walsh and Janey said, is to help people arrested for what’s now legal — having and selling pot — and the communities of color in which many such arrests happened.
“We have an opportunity in Boston to undo some of that damage,” Walsh said.
The ordinance passed the council last week, 12-1, after months of back-and-forth between Walsh and Janey.
Janey said Tuesday, “It is so important to make sure that the communities that were locked up aren’t locked out of this opportunity to build wealth in their communities but also to break that cycle of intergenerational poverty.”
Economic Chief John Barros told reporters afterward that the administration is still mulling the composition of the board, which Walsh will appoint.
He declined to say whether that board will be created before the end of the year.
“There is no goal timeline except for ‘expedient,’ ” Barros said.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling has subpoenaed Boston and other cities for documents involving the marijuana industry following the extortion charges against Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia. Lelling’s office has declined to take a position on the startup fund, through which the city would be giving money to people selling pot, which remains illegal under federal law.
Asked about if the city’s worried about that fund, Barros said, “We believe everything in the ordinance is in accordance to and allowable by law.”
Office of Emerging Industries chief Alexis Tkachuk, the mayor’s pot point woman, said the first recreational marijuana shop in Boston will likely open in the next couple of months. Pure Oasis, at 430 Blue Hill Ave., is looking to start selling weed by January.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2sn0Hvn
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