Community Corner
Medical Marijuana Questions Face West Tisbury Voters, Oak Bluffs Planners
At West Tisbury's special town meeting Tuesday and in a public hearing before the Oak Bluffs Planning Board Thursday, residents in those towns are set to discuss how the state's new medical marijuana regulations may affect their communities.
It's been a year since Massachusetts voters, including a 74 percent majority on Martha's Vineyard, approved the use of medical marijuana. But the state's regulations governing prescription pot have only recently been approved.
At West Tisbury's special town meeting Tuesday and in a public hearing reportedly taking place before the Oak Bluffs Planning Board Thursday, residents in those towns will discuss how the state's new medical marijuana regulations may be applied in their communities.
West Tisbury voters will take up items including a proposed $300 fine for smoking marijuana in public and a zoning bylaw request aimed at allowing a state-registered marijuana dispensary to operate in West Tisbury, the Martha's Vineyard Times reports in "West Tisbury special town meeting takes up marijuana zoning."
Times publisher Nelson Sigelman said on WCAI radio last week that the proposed fine was requested by West Tisbury police chief Daniel Rossi to curb secondhand smoke.
The town has no similar punishment for smoking tobacco, Sigelman told WCAI senior reporter/editor Sean Corcoran.
West Tisbury voters also are being asked whether they wish to amend the town's zoning bylaw to allow for a medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation facility: See the full town meeting warrant here.
In Oak Bluffs, where voters in April prohibited public consumption of medical marijuana but failed to support a moratorium on dispensaries, the Times reports that the town planning board will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday in the lower-level meeting room at Town Hall to discuss where a dispensary might be allowed to operate. ("Public hearing set for Oak Bluffs marijuana dispensary district.")
Monday morning, no notice or agenda for the meeting had yet been posted on the town's website.
What do you think is the best place for a medical marijuana dispensary on Martha's Vineyard? Tell us in the comments.
More pot on Patch:
- Medical Marijuana: Massachusetts Fees for Use and Sale
- Vineyard's Medical Marijuana Applicants Get Green Light from State
- Marijuana Garden Found in Aquinnah, Vineyard Gazette Reports
- Vineyard Medical Marijuana Group Seeks Off-Island Pot Farm