“The retreat brings people together, builds community in the forest, gets participants outside and off their screens, and uses nature sustainably to heal and inspire minds and souls,” stated Great Mountain Forest Executive Director Michael Zafros. Retreat registration closes on July 30.
‘All recreational users should be aware of potential undesired acute cannabinoid effects,' her fancy way of saying that what can sometimes happen when you’re high on pot might be a bummer. And the effects are a function of a bunch of factors—what kind of cannabis, how often you use, who the user is and how much they smoke.”
Theory Wellness, the first medical cannabis dispensary to launch in the Berkshires and one of the first recreational retailers to open in the state, has stepped forward to fund and operate a social equity program designed to support "economic empowerment" entrepreneurs in opening cannabis dispensaries.
Theory Wellness, which opened its doors in 2017 in Great Barrington as Berkshire County’s first medical pot dispensary and earlier this year began selling the recreational variety, is partnering with organic farmer Ted Dobson to open an outdoor grow facility at Dobson's Equinox Farm on Bow Wow Road.
Successful businesses are always on the hunt for growth opportunities, and package stores are no exception. But the stores face competitive threats that were hard to imagine only 15 years ago.
Four years ago, 70 percent of South Berkshire 12th-graders reported having used marijuana at least once, and 41 percent reported use within the past month. In 2019, those numbers are 52 percent and 36 percent respectively.
"Recreational cannabis means that we are talking about cannabis. That’s a good thing. Young people are asking unsolicited questions, neighbors are talking to each other. ... We developed norms ... We’re starting to talk about what does safe use look like for adults? What is the norm?" --Chris Tucci, Railroad Street Youth Project deputy director
Community leaders representing law enforcement, youth services, local government and the drug treatment community will discuss the changing landscape of marijuana’s place in southern Berkshire County with an extended question and answer period from the audience.
"As a parent, and someone who’s worked with young people who are at risk, I’m very concerned with how we protect young people from marijuana. We know that marijuana is devastating for developing brains. If your kids get drunk before school, you’re going to notice. But if they’re smoking marijuana, it’s a lot harder to tell." --Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington
Ryan P. Babcock, then 27, was taken into custody by Great Barrington police on June 5, 2013, after his girlfriend's mother had called the department concerned about her daughter's safety in Babcock's car.
"Ultimately, it costs so much money for people to start these businesses, that it's just another way for rich people to make more money. That's not a great thing for a town that touts itself as progressive."
-- Great Barrington Selectboard member Kate Burke
In the push for medical cannabis approval in 2012 in Massachusetts, and then to the passage of recreational in 2016, the ACLU, Drug Policy Alliance and others stressed the racial and class disparities of the war on drugs. It is a fair guess that many of the more than 60 percent of Berkshire County voters who checked “yes” on the 2016 ballot question did so at least in part to help right these wrongs.
With the growing recognition that marijuana and many other formerly outlawed drugs can have beneficial effects on user’s health and well-being, we may soon be extending these policies to other formally prohibited psychoactive drugs.
Nicholas Dayal, 30, of Stockbridge, Mass., and Chelsea L. Ryll, 31, of Ascutney, Vt., for Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 2nd degree, a class A felony, among other charges.
Human beings are inclined to assume that our own lived experience reflects that of everyone else’s. We—the people who write and think about pot and have enough money to open stores that sell it—are blind to the “other” in our midst.
