Peabody Finalizes Retail Marijuana Ban

PEABODY, MA -- In an expected move, Peabody City Council approved a ban on retail marijuana sales Thursday night. The measure had been backed by Mayor Ted Bettencourt and was allowed under state rules that allow municipalities that voted against the legalization of retail marijuana sales in 2016 to draft rules banning retail sales. Separately, Council approved two medical marijuana dispensaries on Route One, which had also been backed by Bettencourt.

The retail marijuana ban leaves open the possibility of revisiting the decision in the future. Council's approach to its vote was to see how the new rules play out in other cities which are allowing retail marijuana sales, including neighboring Salem.

A group calling itself Peabody Citizens for the Legalization of Recreational Cannabis had organized earlier this year in hopes of getting Peabody to reconsider its stance on retail marijuana sales, arguing that the city was opting to forgo the tax revenue that would be generated by such sales. Ward 5 City Councilor Joel Saslaw said the goal of the groups meetings was to "discuss the benefits to the City of legalized cannabis facilities and also address the many questions concerned citizens have on this."

In a March 1 letter to City Council, Mayor Ted Bettencourt called for the city's lawmaking body to schedule a meeting as soon as possible to pass legislation that would ban recreational marijuana sales in Peabody.

"As you know, Massachusetts voters approved the [2016 state referendum legalizing recreational marijuana use] while the Peabody electorate opposed it by a significant margin. It is with great trepidation we must confront recreational use of marijuana," Bettencourt wrote. "Based on our city's results, as well as a myriad of concerns relative to public safety and law enforcement, I strongly urge City Council to vote to ban any and all recreational marijuana operations in Peabody."

In Peabody, 14,973 voters, or 54%, opposed Question 4 in the 2016 election while 12,770 voters, or 46%, supported it. Statewide, the measure passed by a margin of 1,745,394 to 1,511,747. Last 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 towns where the measure failed more leeway to ban recreational marijuana sales.

By banning recreational pot sales, Peabody loses its chance to collect a three percent, local sales tax on recreational marijuana sales. And it may prove even more costly: backers of recreational marijuana want to penalize towns and cities and town that ban retail marijuana sales. If the group's proposal works, municipalities with retail marijuana bans would be unable to tap into the pool of money that will come from the state's 17% sales tax on marijuana sales.

Last May, Daniel Fishman, a Beverly resident and ranking member of the Massachusetts Libertarian party, debated the Peabody pot proposal with Bettencourt in op/ed pieces in the Boston Globe. In his piece, Fishman suggested Peabody's retail marijuana ban was a way to protect the city's tax revenue from a proposed medical marijuana dispensary.

"I am going to give city officials the benefit of the doubt and assume it's for moral reasons. I doubt the fact that the city is also considering zoning changes that will allow medical marijuana in the city has anything to do with wanting to keep a legal and cheaper alternative to medical marijuana out of the city," Fishman wrote.

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