By Carol Britton Meyer

After two weeks of discussion about Hull’s existing marijuana sales bylaw, Town Manager Jennifer Constable told the select board that town hall staff continues to work on updates to the regulations. Members voted this week to begin accepting applications for retail sales in April.

In 2018, town meeting voters prohibited the sale of recreational marijuana, but voters had a change of mind five years later and approved amending the current bylaw to allow an existing registered medical marijuana dispensary that has been licensed and lawfully operating for at least one year to also offer adult-use retail sales, with specific requirements in place.

The town “is trying to develop a path forward,” Town Counsel James Lampke said last week.

A meeting with an outside counsel is planned to determine whether the town’s bylaw needs to be amended due to uncertainty “as to what was actually adopted [at the 2018 town meeting],” Constable told the board this week.

The town also is waiting for the state Cannabis Control Commission to issue a revised model for host community agreements between the town and recreational marijuana dispensaries. That is expected to happen by March 1.

Constable said at the time the board needed to make a policy decision about the process for accepting applications for HCAs, suggesting that the board might want to wait until the CCC issues the new template. That issue was resolved this week with the decision to move forward with the application process. The town has the ability to negotiate two recreational marijuana agreements.

Board member Irwin Nesoff, who has been asking for some time for the board to discuss the regulations, said that HCAs and accepting applications “are two different things. Whether we get 1 or 3 or 20 businesses interested in a possible HCA with the town doesn’t affect the application process,” he said at last week’s select board meeting. “It’s time to begin moving forward with this.”

He also suggested that applications accepted prior to the CCC’s finalization of the template should have a disclaimer stating that if the regulations change, the board reserves the right “to go back and ask for more information. To not accept applications now will slow the process down.”

The issue was clarified at this week’s board meeting, when the discussion continued. After a lengthy conversation, the board voted in favor (with one abstention) of posting a request for applications on or about April 1, with a deadline of June 1 for them to be returned. Two applications already have been submitted – from the Alternative Compassion Services medical marijuana dispensary on George Washington Boulevard and another Hull business, Skarr Inc., owned by Mambo’s restaurant’s Anthony Ghosn – and do not need to be resubmitted, Constable said.

Board member Jason McCann said it’s important to ensure a “clear and fair process for applicants,” adding that he wants to “[move through the process] as fast as we can.”

Constable noted that the “social equity requirements” around the sale of marijuana aren’t clear at this time.

Stephen Werther, president of Alternative Compassion Services, attended both meetings and expressed concern last week that ACS “was told by town counsel that we could fill out an application” some time ago, but it hasn’t yet been reviewed.

“We submitted an application with 100-plus pages to the board recently as a great starting point, and I offered to send the town more information,” Werther said. “I’m trying to run my business.”

Constable said the issue “isn’t so much about the HCA. The stall is making sure what the town legally adopted on record [following the 2018 town meeting] was what it was intended to be. We have been spending extensive time reviewing the bylaw and speaking with outside counsel to ensure it’s effecting what we intended it to do and to move forward.”

Chair Greg Grey urged patience in the process “because we have to do our due diligence. I know it’s frustrating, but we’re on a path to try to get there as quickly as possible.”

In response, Werther said he “would be happy to be patient as long as we see things happening. We’ve been wanting to have this discourse for a while. HCAs aren’t that complicated, and there are some clear rules.”

For more details about the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, visit http://masscannabiscontrol.com.

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