BOSTON — Hoping to launch a new era of pot politics with candidates as comfortable and willing to drop by a dispensary on the campaign trail as they are a diner or coffee shop, two former State House regulars are inviting the candidates for governor to visit their Dracut marijuana shop to start what they are calling the “cannabis primary” in Massachusetts.
The idea isn’t so much to hear from candidates about their ideas and plans for the cannabis industry, but rather to demystify what has long been a taboo subject for political candidates and to educate those who might hold great sway over the fledgling industry about its successes, stress points and failures, Tree House Craft Cannabis co-founders and co-CEOs Ture Turnbull and Wes Ritchie said.
“It gives us an opportunity to help them understand this emerging market,” Turnbull, who worked for the Joint Committee on Tourism and Cultural Development, a handful of lawmakers and later as executive director of single-payer advocacy group Mass-Care, said. “These are really good jobs that we have ... but then I think, because of the stigma around the industry, it’s hard to have our voice always recognized as stewards of our community.”
The outreach from Tree House to the candidates comes at a crucial time for the once-illegal industry in Massachusetts. Marijuana businesses added more than 10,000 jobs here in the last two years, generated more than twice as much excise tax revenue than the state was counting on last budget year, and have contributed millions of dollars for their host communities to use.
And yet business owners and advocates are more vocal than ever about the problems they see in the state’s cannabis sector -- overly-aggressive host community agreements, high tax rates, license types that seem economically unviable, and limited progress towards the state cannabis law’s explicit social equity mandate. That’s not to mention the headaches that federal prohibition creates for state-legal marijuana companies.
“These are businesses that matter. These are businesses that have specific needs. These are businesses that people don’t necessarily want to touch because it feels politically volatile to be talking with marijuana,” Ritchie, who worked for Rep. Tom Sannicandro and Sens. Dianne Wilkerson and Barbara L’Italien, said. “But we are saying, ‘Come in. The cannabis primary is real. Whether you’re a Democrat, whether you’re a Republican; this race could go either way. We want you to learn from us, we want you to see these operations up close and we want to help establish an open line of communication.’”
In the coming weeks, Turnbull and Ritchie will host whichever gubernatorial candidates are willing and able to stop by for a tour of the facility, discussion about the issues that businesses like Tree House Craft Cannabis face and an opportunity to make a statement if desired. They said the candidates and campaigns will be subject to all the same requirements as their customers, like having to provide a valid ID and being at least 21 years old.
Degrees of Candidate Engagement
Political candidates have not typically been keen to talk about marijuana, a drug that remains illegal at the federal level and was legalized here by voters with a 2016 ballot question, and the responses the News Service got from candidates were spread across a spectrum from engaging to ignoring.
Though details are still being worked out, the Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy and a Democratic candidate for governor, Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, is expected to make a campaign trip to Tree House, organizers said.
“I’m looking forward to having a robust discussion on the campaign trail about the future of the cannabis industry and the policies we need to ensure the industry builds wealth and opportunity for local entrepreneurs, especially communities that were targeted for decades by the War on Drugs, not just large multi-state corporations,” Chang-Diaz told the News Service.
She said that as governor she “will continue to pursue the cannabis policies I’ve fought for over the last 5 years,” specifically pointing to her support for a Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund, host community agreement reform and ensuring that entrepreneurs from communities harmed by prohibition can participate in the newly legal industry. The committee that Chang-Diaz helms recently advanced wide-ranging legislation (H 174/S 72) addressing social equity funding, HCA reforms and more.
Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat who opposed and worked against the 2016 ballot question that legalized marijuana in Massachusetts, is not expected to make a stop at Tree House due to a scheduling conflict, a campaign spokeswoman said.
“She remains committed to supporting the advancement of social equity in the cannabis industry,” the spokeswoman said.
Republican candidate Geoff Diehl’s campaign said that he respects the will of the voters in legalizing marijuana in 2016 but feels that law enforcement needs a mechanism to deal with impaired driving. He will not be visiting Tree House, his campaign said.
The campaign of businessman Chris Doughty, the Wrentham Republican who entered the gubernatorial race in late January, did not respond to questions about his position on marijuana or his invitation to visit Tree House.
Before she announced the end of her gubernatorial campaign, Democrat Danielle Allen was the only candidate who confirmed to the News Service that she planned to visit Tree House.
“I was an early advocate for cannabis legalization and am really happy to see the 2016 legalization decision making a difference for people across our Commonwealth, including thanks to LGBTQ+ business leaders like Tree House. I’m looking forward to meeting the team ... and am excited to learn more about how local dispensaries are making a difference for MA communities, and hear more about how we can better support small businesses like this one,” Allen said in response to a News Service inquiry last week.
Turnbull and Ritchie said they do not care all that much about the candidates’ previous positions on marijuana legalization or cannabis matters and are far more focused on helping the would-be governors understand what their industry is like and what it needs.
“Ture and I are also one of the only LGBT-owned dispensaries. And one of the things that happened with gay marriage -- which Ture and I both worked in the State House for and that was sort of a foundational part of our personal experience -- you meet people where they’re at and you grow allies to get there,” Ritchie, a former organizing director of MassEquality, said. “And so I think that I’m not super interested in these candidates’ past positions on marijuana. I’m interested in meeting them and we are interested in meeting them and greeting them where they’re at, and sort of hoping that they’re open in the same way to ... drop whatever your history is with marijuana, see what’s going on in the state.”
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