On Sunday, the Massachusetts House and Senate enacted cannabis compromise legislation to make the legal marijuana economy fairer. Senate Bill 3096, which intends to promote diversity in the cannabis industry and regulate host community agreements (HCAs) between cannabis corporations and municipalities, also includes a proposed study on medical marijuana consumption in schools.
While the legislative bill is now on its way to Gov. Charlie Baker's desk, the American Academy of Pediatrics opposes "medical marijuana outside of the US Food and Drug Administration's regulatory process," a representative for the academy told the Boston Herald on Tuesday.
"In consultation with the departments of elementary and secondary education and public health, the cannabis control commission shall conduct a study on the possession, administration, and consumption of medicinal cannabis, as defined in chapter 94I, at public or private schools in the commonwealth as it relates to students," the legislation states. Meanwhile, according to the Athol Daily News, Athol Town Manager Shaun Suhoski requested Gov. Baker in a letter to revise the legislation to handle host community agreements previously inked by municipalities and marijuana firms that contain so-called "community impact payments."
"For all of the benefits in this legislation in terms of social equity, there is a dose of inequity in the potential invalidation of more than 1,000 existing contracts negotiated in good faith between the marijuana industry and communities incentivized to host a new and previously illegal business," Suhoski said.
The bill mandates that 15% of the funds in the Marijuana Regulation Fund, funded by the state's marijuana excise tax, various operational fees, and industry fines, be directed to a new Social Equity Trust Fund. The new fund would provide scholarships and loans to persons from drug-affected neighborhoods who want to work in the cannabis sector.
Furthermore, the new measure empowers the Cannabis Control Commission to examine and approve host community agreements before a cannabis company receives its final license. However, Suhoski stated that the measure's final version, which passed both chambers, allows the regulatory body to cancel or change current host community agreements when they come up for renewal.
"There is no exemption for existing host community agreements," Suhoski explained. "There is so much good in the bill, but the one item comes at the expense of cities and towns — the vast majority of which negotiated in good faith, in many cases following the terms that the marijuana industry presented to the community." They are contract law, and the final legislation on the governor's desk would subject existing agreements to state agency scrutiny rather than the judicial system, which is how contract law is decided."
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