Supporters of a Roxbury woman’s dream of opening a cannabis dispensary in Landing urged the Roxbury Mayor and Council on Tuesday to rescind its ordinance banning such businesses.
About 20 advocates of Ariel Mizrahi’s proposed Bud 2 Bloom dispensary showed up at the council’s “budget meeting,” a type of special session where town officials focus solely on poring over the proposed municipal budget. Budget meetings usually draw few, if any, members of the public.
But to many of those who came Tuesday, particularly Mizrahi, the budget meeting was seen as an appropriate venue for their plea. They said Roxbury, by banning cannabis businesses, was turning its back on a potentially significant source of revenue.
“I’d like to remind the council members that 64 percent of Roxbury residents voted in favor of legalizing cannabis,” said Mizrahi, a Roxbury High School graduate who has secured a conditional license from the state for Bud 2 Bloom. “If permitted to operate in Roxbury, I would be proud to see my business bring a 2 percent local tax ad to the local resources of the township.”
Mizrahi said the special tax assessed from her business could be earmarked for “important initiatives” that the council has not chosen to fund.