Massachusetts City Requires Local Cannabis Companies $ 866,000 For “Policing”

News this week that a small Massachusetts town is charging more than $ 1.3 million in “impact fees” from the three cannabis companies operating within its city limits has sparked the debate over the real impact cannabis companies have on them reignited local communities.

In a recent lawsuit, cannabis retailer Stem revealed that the city of Haverhill, Massachusetts is charging its three cannabis companies a total of $ 1.3 million in annual impact fees – including $ 866,930 for the city’s police force are.

The state cannabis board chairman says he is not “buying” the need for exorbitant impact fees.

These impact fees are levied despite the fact that myths about cannabis companies promoting crime have been debunked time and again. In fact, there is evidence that legalizing cannabis can actually improve local crime detection rates.

Even if they act as positive law abiding forces in their communities, cannabis companies still have to fight the negative stereotypes perpetuated by the American drug war.

With no evidence of negative community impact, we have to wonder why some cities are allowed to charge cannabis companies for additional policing.

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Cannabiz influence in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Legalization Act allows local communities to impose impact fees that are “proportionate to the cost of running the marijuana facility on the community.”

Unlike most other legal states, Massachusetts law forces cannabis companies to sign Host Community Agreements (HCAs) with the city in which they operate. This gives the local communities a tremendous leverage over cannabis businesses – which encourages them to tax the daylight from local cannabis businesses.

Host Community Agreements give cities the ability to impose extortionate “impact fees” on law-abiding businesses.

Many Bay State cities use HCAs to charge their own abatement fees based on how they think cannabis companies will affect their townships.

The law went into effect in 2018 when there was little data on the impact of cannabis companies on drug abuse, drunk driving and local crime rates.

Since then, numerous studies have shown that the impact of legal cannabis companies on the community is negligible. In fact, it’s often positive. Take Northampton, Massachusetts, for example.

In January 2021, Northampton stopped collecting marijuana abatement fees to which the city was entitled under state law. Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz stated:

“There wasn’t necessarily a big impact. A lot of the concerns … about this industry came mostly from people who opposed legalization, thinking there was going to be an increase in crime or drug abuse and so on. And I think these concerns have not come true. We have certainly not seen that here in Northampton. ”

Northampton continues to levy a 3% local excise tax that is added to the city’s general fund and reserves the right to restart abatement charges if necessary. But for now the city does not see any negative effects and therefore no need for the tax.

Even Steven Hoffman, chairman of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, is skeptical of the fees charged by legal cannabis deals. “Things like training the police in DUI and drug education [have] has been going on for a long time and has nothing to do with starting a legal business to replace an illegal business, ”he told the North Andover Eagle-Tribune earlier this week. “A lot of the additional expenses in cities and towns say they are incurred – I just don’t buy.”

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Specifics of Haverhill Police Charges

Shaleen Title, a former member of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, published a full list of the issues claimed by the Haverhill Police Department:

I have a copy of the full list. Cruiser. “Equipment” of the police. DARE program.
These are things the City of Pharmacies CHARGES DIRECTLY for, IN ADDITION to the 17% state and 3% local taxes. Something like that happens all over MA. How should small businesses compete? https://t.co/9lETS4TiQF pic.twitter.com/LrO0mHu5rL

– Shaleen Title (leshaleentitle) September 29, 2021

The city claimed the three cannabis companies owed $ 1,312,268.65 for their annual impact fees – along with $ 156,798.22 for one-time charges including:

• six additional officers during day and early night shifts to cover cannabis deals and driving disruptions
• two additional police cruisers
• Training for six officers to identify marijuana impairments
• the creation of a behavioral response unit
• and one-time cost of $ 17,400 for uniforms, weapons, holsters, and other personal equipment for the officers.

A grand total of $ 884,330.83, or 60.2% of Haverhill’s cannabis containment revenue, is sent directly to the police by cannabis companies to help them monitor cannabis users – who do nothing but obey the law to legal cannabis buy it and enjoy it so please.

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Cannabis stores don’t need police anymore

In a country where police are twice as likely to use violence against people of color, more likely to arrest people with addiction and mental health problems, and more likely to use a minor offense like cannabis possession to get people into the prison pipeline, there is absolutely no call for that Focusing police resources on legal cannabis deals and then taxing those shopkeepers for unnecessary policing.

Not all revenue from the impact goes to the police. Haverhill gives some of this to its public schools (25% of the amount goes to the police) and some (less than $ 30,000) to the city’s public health program.

When will hard working local business owners stop being treated like public nuisance?

But in a country where police are twice as likely to use violence against people of color, arresting people with drug and mental health problems more often, and more likely to use a minor offense like possession of cannabis to usher people into the prison pipeline, there is absolutely no call to local Overwhelming cannabis companies to fund shiny new police cruisers.

Not only is $ 1.3 million an incredible amount of money to billed a small business, but most of Haverhill’s mitigation fees don’t even help the community get better public health outcomes. They finance even more damage from excessive policing.

Cannabis companies like Stem pay their taxes, create local jobs, provide legal weed for their community, and abide by the rules of their host city agreements. When will these hard working local business owners stop being treated like public nuisance? When will Haverhill start treating its cannabis businesses like the essential businesses they really are?

Janessa Bailey

Janessa was born and raised in the Midwest and is currently the arts editor for Leafly. She has a background in content, activism, and African American studies.

Janessa is the creator of Lumen and Seeds of Change.

View article by Janessa Bailey

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