Grafton had high hopes for marijuana. No businesses have opened yet.
Grafton has signed multiple host community agreements with marijuana companies since 2018, forecasting additional revenue each year.
Not a single one has opened.
The Select Board is worried some of the companies see their Grafton agreements as a way to block competition. Nature’s Remedy, which has a store in Millbury, was one of the first to apply for Grafton, but has yet to move forward. MJ’s Market, which intends to cultivate and sell marijuana, has received an OK from the state Cannibis Control Commission but still needs to finish its intended facility. Resinate has also passed through the CCC. Noble Manna, Inc., run by former Selectman Bruce Spinney, is close to opening in Mendon, but its Grafton prospects remain slim after June’s Town Meeting refused to increase the number of marijuana retailers permitted in town to three.
“Do we, as a municipality, have the ability to put an expiration date on an HCA?” Select Board member Doreen DeFazio asked.
“We’re really in a difficult place,” Select Board member Ed Prisby said. He suggested asking town counsel to review state law to see if the town can withdraw from an agreement if there is no progress.
There’s a reason other than cluttering the town with the ghosts of future marijuana retailers — a business with a provisional marijuana license from the CCC can also decide to take that license to another community, even after working with the town of Grafton, Select Board member Colleen Roy said.
The board agreed to have town staff also contact the four businesses with HCAs for an update on their progress.
“I think we owe it to ourselves, owe it to the town, to determine what is our role in this,” Select Board Chair Peter Carlson said.
