Woburn City Council Continues Discussion On Marijuana Proposals

WOBURN, MA — Proposals to allow recreational marijuana dispensaries in Woburn will wait until at least September for a vote from the Woburn City Council after the council opted on Tuesday to continue its public hearing on the matter.

Pitched earlier this year, the proposals have prompted discussion on multiple occasions in the council’s chambers this summer. Speaking this week, councilors again emphasized a variety of opinions while urging a careful process moving forward.

“The most important thing that we can do as a City Council is listen to all sides because everyone has a story to tell regardless of what side of this they’re on,” councilor Darlene Mercer-Bruen said. “I appreciate that we’re not going to do anything with this. We’re going to wait, we’re going to have more hearings.”

Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin discussed a package of zoning amendments back in June that would reverse the city’s ban on recreational marijuana establishments.

The ban dates back to 2017, when it took effect a matter of months before the first legal recreational dispensaries opened in Massachusetts in 2018.

Woburn was one of several area communities to ban recreational dispensaries within its borders. In doing so, it followed a process available to all communities in Massachusetts that voted against the state’s original marijuana legalization ballot question in 2016.

Galvin said in June that he agreed with the initial decision to opt out. Five years later, however, he said the state’s rollout of marijuana legalization has proceeded without major issues in other communities, generating over $3 billion in sales across the state.

Proposals in June called for a three percent sales tax on marijuana in Woburn. State guidelines currently limit the city to two recreational dispensaries. City zoning would then further confine those dispensaries to an industrial zoning district around Commerce Way.

The zoning would overlap with Woburn’s existing medical marijuana dispensary, Sanctuary Medicinals, which could apply to add recreational use.

Councilors first spoke in June in the same meeting where they heard Galvin's presentation, noting arguments for and against local recreational dispensaries. They then continued discussion to their meeting this week.

Meeting on Tuesday, Councilor Joanne Campbell reiterated previous opposition to recreational dispensaries in Woburn while calling on colleagues to avoid rushing aspects of this process.

“I would hope that we would not rush this through and that we really could discuss this and see what our next move would be,” she said.

Campbell voiced concerns about children accessing marijuana if recreational dispensaries were to open in Woburn. She further noted fears that the number of allowed recreational dispensaries, which is calculated based on population, will increase.

Campbell was joined by councilor Richard Gately Jr.

“If this ever goes through in the city of Woburn, what you’re doing is putting this in the hands of children,” Gately Jr. said. “It’s bad enough that we’re trying to keep them away from the alcohol. If you put this out there, they’re going to find it, they’re going to get it, they’re going to use it.”

Councilor Charles Viola noted feedback from community members on either side of the issue.

As some have raised concerns about easier access to marijuana leading to addiction, Viola also noted conversations that he said he has had with people who are incarcerated on drug charges. The majority, he said, did not start their battles with addiction by using marijuana. Instead, misuse of prescription medications often led to drugs like heroin, he said.

“I’m happy that this is going to go forward,” Viola said. “We’re going to talk about it more.”

This week’s meeting featured public comment for and against an end to Woburn’s recreational marijuana ban.

Continued for further discussion, this matter will be the subject of an Ordinance Committee meeting before it is due to come back before the City Council at its currently scheduled Sept. 20 meeting.

City Councilors have asked community members to reach out and share their thoughts on the future of recreational marijuana in Woburn.