5 Things That Happen

5 THINGS THAT HAPPEN WHEN Cannabis

COMES TO Town

STORY BY ERIKA LEIGH ILLUSTRATIONS ISTOCK

Despite the boom in cannabis cultivation and sales across the state the last few years, many people still worry about what will happen when their town or city becomes home to a new pot shop or grow facility. What kind of impact will it have? How is traffic impacted on the roads? Where does the money go?

However, the seemingly-exponential growth of cannabis is highly regulated in Massachusetts by the Cannabis Control Commission. Before they ever get the go-ahead from the state, potential owners face a bevy of questions about how they’ll impact the area where their business sites are located. Part of the submission and approval process includes providing relevant examples for how they’ll be community benefactors and how their businesses will help the local economy.

When cannabis comes to town, business owners want the support of locals – not just in those who are coming into their stores to make a purchase—but in community members who are excited to have them there. These businesses are making investments in local organizations, creating tourism opportunities, stimulating the local economy and more. Over the last few years, research shows cannabis has an overwhelmingly positive impact on the communities where businesses are located.

Most Americans favor some form of marijuana legalization, according to an April 2021 Pew Research Center survey with the majority of U.S. adults (91%) saying either that marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use (60%) or that it should be legal for medical use only (31%). “Steve Hickson, a 69-year-old who runs

Steve’s Barber Shop in downtown Lee, agreed with that assessment. ‘Even if

These community businesses, in the best examples, make massive long-term ” - Seven Days newspaper people are really not into it, they don’t have a big problem with it.’ he said. commitments to and invest in their communities, because the ownership is also local and cares about having a positive impact. Cannabis companies are making regular donations to support local organizations. A retail storefront in a well-trafficked tourist destination or proximity to a downtown area with parking or public transit can bring in 2,000 customers per day. Cannabis tourism not only drives shoppers to pot shops, it brings in new people and locals with money to burn at other nearby businesses. First-year tax revenue for a store posting $16 million in sales, like Canna Provisions in Lee, is a conservative first-year take. Still, that revenue helped keep property taxes in town low, despite a global pandemic which caused an industry-wide four-month shutdown and stoppage of sales. The employees of the cannabis industry become the customers of local businesses. The industry attracts local workers and transplanted talent, who then shop at local gas stations, stores, eat at local restaurants, and use local banks, creating a greater community benefit. Realtors, lawyers, hardware stores, doctors, advertisers, contractors, printers, massage and physical therapists, accountants, and more, directly benefit from the throngs of consumers pouring into a region where there is safe access to legal cannabis products.