Council Subcommittee Continues Discussion On Sale of Retail Marijuana in City

By Adam Swift

Councillor-at-Large Marc Silvestri continued a conversation about opening up Revere to medical and recreational marijuana sales at last week’s City Council economic development subcommittee meeting.

“Back in November, we had a consultant come in and discuss a little bit about cannabis and recreational and medical marijuana,” said Silvestri. “As we know, here in the city of Revere, we only allow for one license for medical, which can be transferred to recreational once it is opened.”

The owners of that single license on Railroad Avenue have been working to open their location for years. Silvestri said he spoke to the business owners recently, and that while they were working on the location and initially had plans to open this spring, it now looks like the plan is to open in the late fall.

Last week, Silvestri discussed a recent impact study that showed there are over 30 cities in the state that are seeing at least $500,000 to $1.5 million in tax revenue from marijuana sales each year.

“I know a lot of people look at it like the market has been saturated and there is not a lot left on that tree,” said Silvestri. “But a city like Revere that is vastly growing, that has tourist attractions, I think that there is an appetite for recreational and medical cannabis to open up. I think that if we do this properly and we do it strategically, we could do it and plan it in the city in locations such as Squire Road.”

When recreational marijuana was initially approved in the state, Revere voters were against marijuana sales. The City Council would have to move forward with a ballot initiative to voters to open up the city to recreational sales.

Silvestri noted that a nearby marijuana dispensary in Melrose is bringing in up to $1.5 million a month in revenue.

“I believe that is revenue we are leaving on the table,” said Silvestri. “There are many things we can do here in the city moving forward, but I just want to keep this an open discussion.”

Silvestri noted that legalizing marijuana sales in the city would also open up more jobs and career opportunities for Revere residents.

“I believe that we have areas in the city, down on Railroad Avenue for one, that have enough space where we could look into agriculturally growing, we  could look into a lot of things in the city that could help generate revenue in other areas beside the recreational selling of marijuana,” said Silvestri.

Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro said it is probably time the city takes another look at allowing retail marijuana sales.

“It’s already being advertised in the city, we have multiple billboards for businesses outside of the city, and even more than that, there are cities that are delivering to Revere,” said Cogliandro. “So I think we really are missing out on a lot of revenue that could do some real good in the city.”