This week, the Select Board voted 4-1 against banning delivery of recreational marijuana in Southborough.
The Select Board vote followed up on updates state legislation on marijuana signed into law in April. Except for in towns that opt-out, adults can legally order up to 2 ounces of recreational marijuana to be delivered to their homes.
Towns that allow recreational marijuana businesses to operate within their borders aren’t allowed to opt out. But since Southborough’s zoning bylaws prohibit recreational marijuana businesses, the Town is able to receive a waiver. (Medical marijuana deliveries would still be legally allowed with a prescription even in towns that ban recreational businesses and deliveries.)
The Select Board has the sole authority to make the opt-out decision for the Town. If they voted to ban deliveries, the board would need to file a waiver with the state’s Cannibas Control Commission. That would then need to be reapplied for every two years.
In Tuesday’s Select Board Meeting, Chair Kathy Cook noted that to get the product delivered:
You have to be 21. You have to be registered. You have to be there. You have to show driver’s license. So it’s not, you know, 5-year-old that can do this. So there are rules to protect, you know, how this happens. the laborers have to be licensed in certain ways. So, it sounds like they they’ve got a pretty tight process as far as doing it.
The Board of Health had opted to not make a recommendation to the Select Board, since members didn’t come to a consensus. (Scroll down for more on that.)
When Cook asked members of the Select Board if any opposed allowing deliveries, only one did. Sam Stivers said he was a “strong” vote for opting out. He didn’t elaborate or try to persuade other members of the board.
Prior to the vote, Vice Chair Andrew Pfaff noted that there wasn’t a deadline for making the decision. (Which means the board could readdress the issue in the future if needed.)
As of mid-July, only 13 waivers had been sought by the 174 towns eligible to receive them. You can find that list and more details in materials from the Select Board’s meeting packet here.
When I looked to see where residents could find businesses that deliver to Southborough, my first impression was that there aren’t any. Most facilities within 10 miles don’t offer delivery (as of now), and the two that do don’t list Southborough one of the Towns they service. But when I expanded the search, I was able to find a dispensary in Worcester (Major Bloom) that didn’t list its service locations. When I called, staff informed me that they would deliver to Southborough. You can find them through the state’s official directory here.
Board of Health discussion
In early July, the Board of Health discussed making a recommendation to the Select Board on the opt-out decision. Member Dr. Safdar Medina argued for opting-out. He worried about increasing the potential for young people to get their hands on marijuana. Member Liz Zulick offered a counterpoint. She worried that advocating to ban deliveries would be overreach. She pointed out that alcohol can be delivered in town. And she wondered if the ban would make the community less safe. She pointed out that residents who purchase edibles in other towns would be driving back through town to their homes.
Chair Chelsea Malinowski said that she heard Zulick’s points, but since the Town had voted to keep recreational marijuana facilities out, she leaned towards keeping deliveries out.
Zulick said she was conflicted. In her role on the Board of Health, she leaned towards having a healthier community by keeping marijuana out. But as an elected official, she also wanted to be representative of likely view points in the community.
There was one public comment on the issue during the meeting. Tim Litt said he was concerned about the efficacy of age checks by the delivery person, and their financial bias against rejecting a customer. (No members of the public spoke on the topic at the Select Board meeting.)
The board agreed that since the decision wasn’t theirs to make and they weren’t in full consensus, they wouldn’t vote on an official recommendation.
Town’s Ban on Recreational Businesses
In April 2017, Town Meeting voted to prohibit recreational marijuana businesses from operating in Southborough. (Those businesses weren’t just marijuana retailers. The bylaws banned any non-medical use businesses related to the drug. That includes testing facilities, cultivators, and product manufacturers.) The decision was made by a sparsely attended third night of the Annual Town Meeting. And voters were told by Town Counsel that the Articles would need to be ratified by voters in a subsequent ballot question. That didn’t happen after state officials issued later clarifications to municipalities later that year on the fairly new state law and evolving regulations.
However, at that time, the mood of the majority of Southborough voters appeared to be hostile enough towards marijuana that a ballot question would likely have passed. In November 2016, 53% of Southborough voters opposed the legalization of recreational marijuana that was passed by 54% of voters across the state.
