Well folks, Kent’s Planning and Zoning Commission’s Cannabis Subcommittee—catchy name, right?—has just dropkicked a draft ordinance into the main chamber, declaring in no uncertain terms: “Thou shalt not sell weed here, hippy.”
Citing a months-long survey where 460-something locals had their say (mostly the ones who still use AOL), the town came to a cautious consensus: no cannabis retail shops in Kent. Deliver it to your door? Fine. Smoke it in your garden? Cool. Grow it if you’re medical or personal use? Go for it. But open a storefront and you might as well be trying to install a strip club next to a church bake sale.
Subcommittee Chair Sarah Chase did her best to play middle-of-the-road therapist in her executive summary, declaring the town “cautious but open-minded.” Which is just polite New England speak for: “We’d rather not, but thanks for asking.”
Interestingly, while Chase admitted that hemp stinks like a skunk that lost a bet, she also gave the nod to small-scale cultivation under the town’s “Protection of Farms and Farmers from Nuisance Claims” ordinance. Hmmmmm?
The kicker? The survey’s least represented group was young adults. The people most likely to use legal cannabis were also the ones least likely to participate in the survey deciding its fate. “They don’t look at Facebook,” one committee member speculated. No kidding. Whoever would have guessed? I think I might have a heart attack and die from that surprise. Deep thought went into that one, I can tell.
Now the ordinance crawls forward, likely to be poked and prodded by selectmen and extended moratoriums, wrapped in red tape and good intentions. But for now, Kent remains a town where you can grow a little ganja under the right conditions—but God help you if you try to turn it into a business.
Keep it Weird,
