The Marion Board of Health wants to regulate and require a permit for private residents to grow recreational marijuana at home, and it approved the draft regulation during its April 24 meeting.
The board has been under the advisement of its casual consultant, Cheryl Sbarra from the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, on possible municipal regulation of recreational marijuana commercial establishments, and in a general “model” regulation she provided to the board there is a policy option to permit and regulate “grow your own” so-called “operations.” This option, however, is marked by an asterisk because Sbarra, and the committee she sits on, is uncertain any board of health has the legal authority to do so.
The law that was enacted upon voters’ adoption of the 2016 statewide referendum Question 4 to legalize recreational marijuana granted to citizens the right to grow six plants per adult, up to 12 plants, within the home without a permit.
The Marion Board of Health’s draft regulation does not specify how much they would like to charge a resident for a permit to home grow marijuana that they are legally allowed to grow, but the regulation does specify that permits would expire on December 31 of every year and need to be renewed.
The board also inserted a section that would require compliance of home inspections. The section reads, “Each applicant shall submit to a pre-approval inspection by the Marion Board of Health or its designated agents, which may include fire officials and building inspectors, to ensure that the location for cultivation complies with public health and safety requirements and practices, including fire safety and building code provisions.”
Another section states that residents would have to submit to further “reasonable” inspections, while another section states that, should the Board of Health or its agents encounter mold or other diseases infecting the plants, the Town could then destroy the plants, “…as well as surrounding plants, to prevent a threat to the public’s health.”
In a follow-up after the meeting, the Board of Health was not entirely confident on what it was they were regulating. When asked if the regulations they approved that night would regulate the six plants per adult (12 maximum per house) or some additional marijuana growing operating inside a home, Chairman John Howard replied, “I’m not sure.”
Howard said he was not sure how many plants an adult was allowed to grow at home at this time, and whether a town-issued permit would affect that number.
When asked why the board chose to include a section requiring a home cultivation permit, which is not required in any Massachusetts community, Howard mistakenly stated, “The [Cannabis Control Commission] established that as part of the state regulation.”
The CCC released its comprehensive regulations on recreational adult-use marijuana commercial and retail establishments in March, but it did not include any language pertaining to personal home cultivation that would supersede the referendum vote that permits home growing.
The board’s draft regulation does not state a specific fee it would impose should it find legality in the measure, nor did it state any penalty or how it would enforce its regulation.
The rest of the regulations pertain to commercial marijuana establishment licenses, which do not appear to deviate from the CCC’s regulations released in March.
The Board of Health must hold a public hearing on its proposed marijuana regulations allowing for public comment before voting the regulations into law. That public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 22, at 4:30 pm at the Marion Town House.
The next regular meeting of the Marion Board of Health is scheduled for May 8 at 4:30 pm at the Marion Town House.
Marion Board of Health
By Jean Perry
More 1937 Reefer Madness! Stop the INSANITY!