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The Bourne Dispensary: Cape Town To Vote On Cannabis For Fourth Time In Five Years

“Ironically, many of the customers at Capeway Cannabis are from Bourne and voted in favor of the ban back in 2019.”


As I noted last week, more and more Massachusetts municipalities are moving to reverse their ridiculous cannabis bans. All while others are still debating legalization like it’s 2015 and there’s something they can do about it.

But even among the various prohibitionist-spurred feuds still burning in the commonwealth, the situation in Bourne on the Cape is an outlier. As the Enterprise in that town reported today:

Here we go again. Residents of the Town of Bourne will once again debate the issue of allowing the sale of recreational marijuana in their community. The issue, sure to light up social media and ignite fiery exchanges during next month’s Special Town Meeting, will be the fourth time in five years that the subject has been argued over and voted on during Town Meeting.

That’s right folks, four times in five years. What can I say, some folks are just insanely stubborn.

Thankfully, other people are heroes. Meet Lori B. Hough, who filed a private petition with the town’s select board. Along with her sister-in-law, Lori is a co-owner of Capeway Cannabis in nearby Carver. As the Enterprise reported, the “dispensary is one of only six in Massachusetts that are 100 percent female-owned.” More below:

Lori Hough and her husband, Kevin J. Hough, both residents of Bourne, said they would like to open a marijuana dispensary in their hometown. Ms. Hough said the town’s ban on recreational marijuana retail sales should be lifted given marijuana’s legal status in Massachusetts.

The Town of Bourne bylaw prohibits “all marijuana cultivators, marijuana testing facilities, marijuana product manufacturers, marijuana retailers, on-site consumption of marijuana at a marijuana retailer location, any other types of licensed marijuana-related businesses.” The bylaw stipulates that the prohibition does not apply to the medical use of marijuana.

The Houghs said that since the ban was approved during Special Town Meeting in 2019, they have seen a significant change in attitude toward marijuana. Many people, Mr. Hough said, have since told him that they were wrong to vote in favor of the prohibition.

And that’s just it. People are inevitably shopping in neighboring towns, and all that residents of Bourne get is the inconvenience and less tax revenue.

“Almost all of those people have come up to me now and said ‘We were so wrong,’” Kevin Hough told the Enterprise. “Especially the elderly people that were really kind of pushed into going to that meeting the last time and were told all the negatives that weren’t really true and believed them.”

Here’s the kicker:

Mr. Hough said that, ironically, many of the customers at Capeway Cannabis are from Bourne and voted in favor of the ban back in 2019. He added that, while there are some young people who frequent the store, most of the clients are elderly, as old as 85, who buy marijuana either for recreational use or to help with ailments ranging from sleep issues to arthritis. Collecting the 100 signatures needed for the private petition to get on the STM warrant was not difficult, he said—in fact, the couple said they gathered 170.

Read the whole article at capenews.net.