The Amherst Select Board is taking a measured approach in how the town regulates pot and booze.
Like other communities, Amherst is considering how best to prepare for the retail sale of recreational marijuana beginning as soon as July 2018. Among the concerns identified by town officials are too little time to amend zoning rules once state regulations are approved next year, the need for more local control over licensing marijuana stores and the flexibility to allow a higher local tax on recreational pot sales.
Those are among the issues described by Economic Development Director Geoff Kravitz in a memo he sent to the Select Board during May. Because Amherst is likely to attract a significant number of retail marijuana shops, the town sensibly is now starting to consider local regulations and potential additional expenses. Kravitz says, “We’re trying to figure out a thoughtful and deliberative way” to deal with the measure approved by Massachusetts voters last November legalizing recreational marijuana.
For now, adults 21 and older may legally possess and consume marijuana at home. They also may grow their own, up to six plants per person or 12 per household. However, the legal sale of recreational marijuana already has been pushed back by the Legislature from next January to July 2018.
The Legislature’s Committee on Marijuana Policy is expected to recommend legislation this month to address issues related to the ballot initiative, including the possibility of increasing the state excise tax above 3.75 percent (on top of the 6.25 percent sales tax) and raising the local-option tax beyond 2 percent.
That is particularly important for Amherst because the town may need to spend an additional $500,000 to $1 million annually on regulation and education, according to Kravitz, whose estimate is informed by discussions with officials in Pueblo County, Colorado, where significant building activity was experienced once the sale of marijuana was legalized in 2012.
Among the expenses Kravitz identified is hiring two additional police officers and four more first responders to deal with anticipated medical problems from marijuana use, at an annual cost of $552,000.
“The size of the recreational marijuana market in Amherst is unknown,” Kravitz wrote in a letter to the Legislative Committee on Marijuana Policy. “Therefore we can’t determine, with any certainty, whether a 2 percent local option tax is sufficient to cover our anticipated expenses.”
We hope that the Legislature, in addition to considering a higher state excise tax, also looks at doubling the ceiling on the local-option tax.
Also a concern is the timing of regulations governing the licensing of retail marijuana stores, which will be the responsibility of a yet-to-be appointed state Cannabis Control Commission. In addition to issuing licenses, that commission also will determine where the shops may be located, security requirements and health and safety standards for cultivating, manufacturing and selling marijuana.
Amherst officials want the town to have time to enact zoning changes, and suggested that communities have the option of adopting a 180-day moratorium on sales once the state regulations are spelled out next year. That makes sense.
Meanwhile, the Select Board also is reviewing existing rules governing alcohol sales, with the possibility of easing some restrictions. Among changes that may be considered are allowing beer and wine to be consumed on the Town Common — rather than in a tent across Boltwood Avenue — during the annual Taste of Amherst, allowing alcohol sales in restaurants before noon on Sundays, spelling out requirements that license holders serve food, and defining specific penalties for infractions.
Wisely, before voting on changes in alcohol license policies, the Select Board wants discussions with interested parties, including the Amherst Business Improvement District, Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, University of Massachusetts and individual businesses. We like Town Manager Paul Bockelman’s suggestion that a working group be formed to consider what changes would benefit businesses while keeping in mind the many college students who are not yet old enough to legally drink alcohol.
As Select Board member Douglas Slaughter suggests, this review also may help the town prepare its policies for marijuana sales. We commend Amherst for taking prudent steps to craft best practices governing the legal — and safe — consumption of marijuana and alcohol.