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Should Boston ever actually get pot dispensaries, councilor wants to keep them far apart
By adamg on Mon, 03/23/2015 - 4:38pm
There'll be no pot districts in Boston, if at-large Councilor Michael Flaherty has his way.
On Wednesday, the City Council considers a proposal by Flaherty that would require at least 2,500 feet - nearly half a mile - between any marijuana dispensaries in Boston, should we ever actually get any.
Although voters approved medical marijuana dispensaries in 2012, Boston still does not have any, thanks to irregularities in the initial applications approved by the state, bureaucratic wheel grinding by the state Department of Public Health and work by city councilors to limit locations to those that are in somebody else's district.
In his proposal, Flaherty notes the 2012 vote and current proposals to just get it over with and approve the sale of recreational marijuana in the state already.
The siting of marijuana dispensaries, whether medical or recreational at a future time, should be evenly distributed within Suffolk County, and not have any one community or neighborhood host a cluster of multiple dispensaries;
Wednesday's council action would be to send the proposal to a committee for a hearing before the council votes on it.
The council's meeting begins at noon in its fifth-floor chambers in City Hall.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
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Comments
Agreed
And we should make all the hospitals spread out from Longwood and all the restaurants with liquor licenses spread out from Back Bay/South End.
If we're blowing up regional powerhouses to all corners of the map, let's do it for everything.
Yeah, we should look to the
Yeah, we should look to the brilliant way liquor licenses are regulated and restricted, this will ensure voters will be fed up with the government having anything to do with regulating cannabis so everyone will just grow their own.
What About General Drug Dispensaries - There's Way Too Many CVSs
... not to mention, all those other specialty drug dispensaries that push alcohol, nicotine and/or caffeine on every corner of the city!
And let us not forget
those establishments that take advantage of those who are mathematically challenged (i.e. Lottery agents). If nothing else, we need to abolish the "there's one big winning ticket still out there, so let's continue selling tickets for this game" mentality.
we're still talking about this??!
at this rate we'll vote on legalizing entirely in 2016 before they approve one of the damn dispensaries. what a waste of time and money when the state could be making money.
I'm not sure I understand
what this law would accomplish. One half mile is not a long distance. And there will still be a market for less expensive (i.e., not taxed) illegal marijuana. Single cigarettes are sold on the street in New York because a pack can cost over $10. Is this somehow not going to happen with grass? Beautiful dreamer.
Sadly, this doesn't suprise me at all
Exactly the type of BS you get when you let voters legalize medical MJ by referendum without requiring the voters to give any consideration to the logistics of implementing said legalization beforehand.
And this is also further proof that the Boston City Council has WAAAAYYYYYYY too much time on their hands.
Stupid voters
Democracy would work better if it weren't for those darn voters always voting on stuff.
What's wrong...
....with a Green Light District??
I actually agree with this
By decentralizing them now, once it's finanly legalized we won't end up with a pot red light district.
Because once its legalized the existing locations are going to have first wack for a few reasons. Mainly because they'll have the existing structure, distribution and mainly have experience navigating the paperwork.
Because you know...
A packie on every other corner is just so much more beneficial.
I wrote my rep
I suggested that, due to the current fiasco with medical dispensaries, she change her proposals to simply hand recreational legal weed over to the existing (if flawed) structures for dispensing controlled recreational substances to adults.
In other words:
She thought that might be a good idea, actually.
Since it's "medical"
Since it's medical, how about selling it from drugstores?
Where, you know, pharmacists are already regulated.
And where they already sell Doritos.
And where we already have stores spread out in every type of neighborhood.
If it's medical, it should be called Tetrahydrocannabinol, or maybe, a cool spinoff like, "TetraVida". As opposed to "Black Gold" or "Super Columbian".
Also, mark my words, some day Flaherty's successor will file a bill to change the law, when his neighborhood realizes this stuff makes money, and they WANT more of them nearby.
Dispensaries
As long as these places are located near a pizza joint who cares?
Representative government in Boston
Machinations of Members of Boston City Council are supposed to relate to the people Councilors represent. Updating the Boundaries of Wards/Precincts would make for a more representative City Council. The spread of the population around Neighborhoods' Wards/Precincts for 2015 isn't well reflected everywhere by these elected officers of government, a kind of democratic elitism
http://bpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/4531798075_voting_precincts
http://bostonwardsprecincts.blogspot.com/
See also Page 9 of Report at
https://malegislature.gov/District/FinalReport
https://malegislature.gov/District
How does this relate?
I mean, if for some reason the city decided to scrap the current wards and precincts and start from nothing, but at the same time the charter stays in place, we would still basically have the same 13 people on the City Council. Heck, Flaherty is elected citywide, so even if we had only one voting precinct, he'd be in. How would things change?
By Peter Bachrach. The Theory of Democratic Elitism, A Critique
By Peter Bachrach
The Theory of Democratic Elitism, A Critique
http://bpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1211421075_the_theory_of_democrat...
see also
http://bpl.bibliocommons.com/search?q=Bachrach%2C+Peter&search_category=...
In other words
You want me to go to the library, get a 100 page book, and read it to find out why you think the wards and precincts of the City of Boston are important to this discussion rather than telling me yourself?
Don, please step away from the Submit button
You don't have to post about council district lines in every single discussion that has the word "councilor" in it, you really don't. Please knock it off.
There is an alternate theory
Perhaps "Don" is just a very well constructed computer program.
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darn
and now I can't like your comment!
Agreed!
On top of that, let's keep the Dunkin' Donuts at least 3 miles away from each other, as well as Starbucks and Honey Dew. While we're at it, let's do the same for McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, 5 Guys, and any other burger dispensaries. Then, we can work on Pizza dispensaries, Sandwich dispensaries, Burrito dispensaries...
GIVE THE VOTERS WHAT THEY
GIVE THE VOTERS WHAT THEY VOTED IN AND OPEN THE DAMM THINGS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING AS THESE BOZO POLITICIANS TRY TO MAKE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES. CAN U SAT CORRUPTION
dispense medical pot in non
dispense medical pot in non-smoking form and then there will be less of an issue...