Banned In Burlington: Town Meeting Says No To Recreational Marijuana Sales

BURLINGTON, MA -- Burlington Town Meeting overwhelming voted to ban recreational marijuana sales by adopting changes to the town's zoning bylaws. Tuesday night's vote does not impact medical marijuana sales or individual rights to use and possess marijuana; the new laws only ban the retail marijuana stores and cafes from opening.

Tuesday night's vote in Burlington is similar to a debate playing out for legislative bodies in a band of towns along Route 128 north of Boston that all voted against the last fall’s ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana use and sales in Massachusetts. Starting in Bedford, the list of towns voting “no” on Question 4 in November's general election winds east and includes Lexington, Burlington, Woburn, Winchester, Stoneham, Reading, Wakefield, Saugus, Lynnfield, Peabody, Danvers and Wenham. No town voted overwhelming against legalization: the biggest margin was in Lynnfield, where 60.1% voted against the ballot question, which passed. In Woburn, just 50.7% of voters opposed legalized cannabis.

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Statewide, the measure passed by a margin of 1,745,394 to 1,511,747. Earlier this year, the state legislature passed a “compromise bill” that reworked the law to address concerns in the original language of the law. One of the biggest changes in the compromise bill was giving town where the measure failed more leeway to ban recreational marijuana sales.

In Burlington, 7,615 voters, or 54.9%, opposed Question 4 while 6,253 votes, or 45.1%, opposed it.

"Because this was a presidential election year, we had a very high turnout….This was a very good indication of what the people of Burlington wanted," said Barbara G. L'Heureux of the Burlington planning board, which endorsed the measure with a 6-0 vote. "We felt people of Burlington spoke quite clearly and that is why we brought forward these bylaws."

L'Heureux also noted the ban could be lifted, but it would be impossible to impose a ban once stores had opened and were doing business. About two-thirds of town meeting voted to support the two articles that ban recreational marijuana establishments of any type from opening in Burlington. The ban extends to marijuana farms and production facilities as well.

Selectman James M. Tigges dismissed arguments that Burlington was leaving a new revenue stream on the table. He cited a report from the Massachusetts legislature warned that communities should not see the 3% local sales tax they can collect on marijuana as a "significant new revenue source." He said those revenues may very well be offset by new expenditures to address increased public health and safety costs.

"My point here is that there will be increased costs for you and me," Tigges said. "The question, then, is 'Is it worth it?'"

Shawn McCormack, a litigation, real estate and environmental attorney in the cannabis group at the Boston-based law firm Davis Malm, said there have been varying estimates of how big the legal marijuana market will be in Massachusetts, so it's impossible to accurately predict how much towns could collect from the 3% sales tax, which would be on top of a 17% state sales tax on marijuana.

"Nobody really knows how large the recreational marijuana market will be, but estimates are between $700 million and $1.3 billion in sales in the first two years, meaning this could be a significant revenue source for municipalities," McCormack said.

Christine Shruhan, director of Burlington Youth and Family Services, worried about the messsage town meeting would be sending to kids in Burlington if they allowed recreational marijuana sales. But Monte Pearson, a town meeting member representing precinct 3, said there was no evidence that adolescent marijuana use had increased in Colorado and Washington, where recreational marijuana is already legal.

"What’s going to happen is the black market is going to stay here" in Burlington if we don’t make provisions for regulated recreational marijuana sales, Pearson said. "I think we should be looking at what’s going on in other towns -- in towns where marijuana has been legalized, the abuse and deaths from opioids has gone down....in Colorado, highway deaths have also gone down."

Photo of Mary Jane's Marijuana Dispensary in Eugene, Ore. by Rick Obst via Flickr.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites).