Newly issued Board of Health regulations require that anyone selling or cultivating marijuana in Harvard must obtain a $75 annual operating permit from the Board of Health (BOH), and lists the conditions that must be met in order to obtain or renew it.
In a press release last week the health board announced that an article titled “Regulation to Ensure the Sanitary and Safe Operation of Marijuana Establishments and the Sale of Adult-Use Marijuana and Cannabidiol” had been added to Chapter 145 of the Harvard Town Code. The nine-page document is based on a template provided by the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards (MAHB), a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to local boards of health in Massachusetts. BOH clerk Alison Flynn told the Press the MAHB has been advising Massachusetts health boards to adopt marijuana regulations, and the board voted to do so on Nov. 19.
Harvard’s Board of Health held multiple public hearings on the new regulation in October and November, and a few changes were made to the regulation based on resident input at those hearings. One change was to a section that prescribed limitations on the location of any establishment seeking a permit. The MAHB template prohibited such an establishment within 500 feet of a public or private school or preschool. Harvard’s board added licensed after-school care programs, daycare programs, and community-sanctioned venues for athletic events.
The other change to the MAHB boilerplate regulations was to the section that stated a permit “may be subject to non-renewal if the establishment has sold a marijuana product to a person under the minimum legal sales age two times within the previous permit year” without a successful appeal. The BOH changed “may be” to “shall be.”
Earlier in November the board also voted to amend its sale of tobacco products regulation to add mint and menthol to the list of prohibited flavorings, and it also added a $75 tobacco sales permit fee.
The full text of the new marijuana regulation and the amended tobacco and fees regulations is available on the town website on the Board of Health webpage by clicking on “Board of Health Regulations.”
