Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn has signed the City’s first community host agreement for a cannabis dispensary at Theory Wellness’ 162 Mystic Ave location. Out of nine dispensary applicants Theory Wellness received the highest score from the City’s Cannabis Advisory Committee. This is the first of three host agreements that the city will make available for adult-use cannabis retail establishments.
Theory Wellness has agreed to a list of “community benefits” which include purchasing and donating one police cruiser for the City annually, establishing a 10,000 square foot community arts center at no cost to tax-payers or artists, making several charitable contributions, and many other promises. For example, the Mayor required that 50 percent of Theory’s employees be women, 35 percent of employees be of diverse backgrounds, and at least 5 percent of employees be military veterans.
$250,000 of interest-free financing and technical guidance must be provided by the company to a Medford resident of color to open a business in Medford as well as at least $100,000 of financial support and technical guidance to sponsor environmentally sustainable businesses and business practices in Medford. The company will donate $50,000 Medford-based non-profits or city-run organizations, $50,000 to the City of Medford to support funding of a Health Impacts Assessment within the first year, and contributions of $35,000 to public and private schools in Medford for art supplies.
Read the official announcement from the City of Medford here: https://www.medfordma.org/2022/03/11/mayor-lungo-koehn-signs-first-host-community-agreement-with-marijuana-dispensary/
