In March 2019, the marijuana dispensary NETA became the first Boston-area business to sell recreational marijuana in its shop on the outskirts of Brookline Village.
Now, a group of residents concerned about public consumption and increased traffic and parking demands have been pushing for restrictions on the popular shop, often seen with a line out the door. Earlier this month, more than 900 residents signed a petition seeking a special town meeting to limit hours and enact appointment-only sales at NETA and any future Brookline dispensary.
Among those who signed the petition was Sloane Furniss, who said she once supported recreational marijuana but now is concerned with people smoking outside her house.
“I don’t feel safe in my own home,” said the 43-year-old mother of two. “I voted yes for recreational marijuana but now regret my decision.”
NETA currently closes at 10 p.m. every night, while neighboring businesses close two or three hours earlier. Residents are proposing the dispensary close at 7 p.m. except for Sundays, when they are asking for a shorter day, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
In an email to Town Meeting members, NETA President Amanda Rositano said closing earlier will only increase traffic and parking demands. She said the store’s peak times are midday and in the evening after rush hour. If forced to close at 7 p.m., she said the business expects an increased number of customers to arrive between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., aggravating evening traffic.
“Our opposition paints NETA and its customers as a nuisance at best and criminals at worst,” Rositano said in the email. “We believe this is an unfair characterization of our patrons and our company.”
To address residents’ concerns, NETA pays for a police duty and has put up signs reminding customers to throw out trash and not to ingest marijuana publicly, as stated in a company report filed to Brookline. They also say they aim to reopen their on-site parking lot, which is currently used to hold the line of customers.
NETA Brookline opened in February 2016, first selling medical marijuana and then expanding to sell adult-use cannabis earlier this year. NETA officials provided WGBH News with documents that show since opening for recreational marijuana sales, they have contributed over $1 million in sales tax to the Town of Brookline and $875,000 in voluntary payments to the nonprofit Brookline Community Foundation.
Since Massachusetts residents voted to legalize marijuana in 2016, the state has issued 74 provisional and final marijuana retail licenses, according to the Cannabis Control Commission, the state agency that licenses and regulates the industry. Twenty-eight marijuana retailers across the state are open now, according to commission data.
There are two licenses issued in Brookline: NETA and Sanctuary Medicinals, a dispensary slated to open this year on Beacon Street. Two more Brookline licenses are currently under review. Residents of Coolidge Corner, the neighborhood of the future Beacon Street dispensary, recently protested and gathered over 1,000 signatures in hopes of placing the same restrictions on the Sanctuary Medicinals shop.
Dispensaries set to open in Dorchester and Newton also have been met with opposition from residents. A grassroots organization Opt Out Newton led an unsuccessful effort to ban recreational marijuana shops in town. The first retail marijuana shop in Newton, Garden Remedies, does restrict customers to appointment-only and some Newton residents are petitioning to have all shops have similar limits.
Read more: Boston Says A Dorchester Pot Shop Is A Move Towards Equity. It's Not That Simple, Residents Say
Some protests have been successful. A year ago, Ascend Mass withdrew an application to open a retail marijuana shop in Brookline after protests from nearby residents. Paul Warren, a 54-year-old father of two who led the effort, said he hopes now to lessen what he sees as troubling results of marijuana sales in Brookline Village.
“NETA wanted to spread the demand over many hours,” said Warren, referring to the shop’s 10 p.m. closing time. “What they did was they spread the misery of the neighborhood over many hours.”
The town of Brookline has scheduled a special town meeting for Nov. 19 to address petitioners’ concerns. In addition to restrictions on sales, residents also are asking Brookline officials to hold back on issuing any new retail marijuana store licenses until the town’s marijuana by-laws can be reevaluated.
Reilley Connelly, a 21-year-old Boston University student, has been a customer of NETA for two months. She said she likely wouldn’t come back if she had to make an appointment — a result some residents may support. “The convenience of doing it at my own disposal is why I go there,” Connelly said.
