Brookline Town Meeting Tackles Marijuana Articles On First Night

Brookline MA

18 November, 2021

10:19 PM

Description

BROOKLINE, MA — Brookline's fall Town Meeting officially kicked off Wednesday evening with a focus on three retail marijuana articles sponsored by the Select Board and Town Meeting members. In Article 7, selectmen proposed to add two more marijuana retail licenses. This would give the town a total of six licenses, four of which are already accounted for. However, the two additional licenses would be reserved for "Equity Applicants" in an effort to diversify the industry. Regarding Article 7, Select Board Vice Chair Raul Fernandez said town officials "missed the mark" by developing a model for recreational marijuana licensing that failed to consider equality and diversity. "We instead created a first-come, first-serve policy for the four licenses that we were bound to distribute by statute as a community that voted yes on recreational cannabis legalization," said Fernandez. "Unfortunately, we cannot turn back the clock or change the ownership standards for these four licenses," he continued. "And the reality that we find ourselves in today, if we want the ownership of cannabis license holders in Brookline to become more racially and socioeconomically diverse, that means, in part, adding new licenses." Much of the opposition to Article 7 came from those who are concerned that additional licenses will negatively impact younger Brookline residents. "If I were looking for a home now and found out that Brookline not only had four dispensaries, but were thinking of adding two more, it would definitely influence my decision on whether this was a place I wanted to raise my children," said Brookline resident and parent of four Tiffany Rinne. Ultimately, Town Meeting voted in favor of referring article 7 to a moderator's committee, 159-70 with nine abstentions. Article 8, which would have cut the number of licenses by rounding down to the nearest whole number rather than rounding up when calculating 20 percent of the number of liquor licenses for off-premises alcohol consumption, which is currently the cap on recreational licensing. In the end, the article failed 105-113 with 14 abstentions. Article 9, which would create a recreational marijuana industry Study Committee, was referred to the Advisory Council on Public Health and the Department of Public Health, 152-74 with eight abstentions. The Town Meeting was initially scheduled to begin Tuesday, but was postponed due to technical difficulties. It will continue through the second week of December.