Salem City Council OKs Pot Sales For Downtown, Highway Areas

SALEM, MA -- Salem City Council approved recreational marijuana sales after a hearing that went on for more than two hours Thursday night. Under the new rules, which go into effect later this year, the city will issue up to four licenses in the Downtown business district or in areas zone B2, or "business highway," under city bylaws.

Salem has been pushing to adopt its own rules before the state adopts rules regulating recreational marijuana sales. Those state regulations are expected in late spring or early summer. The local laws approved mOnday would only allow for the sale of marijuana; businesses would not be licensed to allow on-site consumption of purchases by customers.

More than 60% of Salem voters supported the 2016 ballot question that legalized recreational marijuana sales. 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. The expectation is that recreational marijuana sales in Massachusetts will start at some point in 2018.

More on this story:

• Salem Moves Closer To Recreational Marijuana Sales (2/2/2018)
• Salem May Be Open To Experimenting With Recreational Marijuana (11/29/2017)
• Peabody Poised To Ban Retail Marijuana Sales (11/10/2017)

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Patch file photo.

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