Recreational Marijuana In Wareham

Strictly in the name of investigative journalism, we checked out the new recreational marijuana dispensary in Wareham... five times.

Verilife opened up on Main Street in the 'Ham recently, to the delight of the Buddha Blessed all over eastern Massachusetts. At the time of her debut, she was the 4th rec outlet in Massachusetts, as well as the only one south of Salem or east of Leicester.

They make you park in a satellite lot and bus you over to the store. They originally had parking at Water Wizz, but now they are parking folks at the Tremont Nail Factory.

They give you a menu to peruse, featuring various pods, cartridges, edibles and flower... flower is what we called Bud back in the day, you see.

3.5 grams of Vortex weed. 55 bucks. When I showed my dealer the menu, he looked at the prices and got what we'll call an I'll Still Be In Business For A While Yet grin.

They do grow some nice weed. I've been blazing since the 80s, and often thought of myself as a general in the drug war, but legalization has made me realize that I'm more of a weed sergeant. I just don't know all the names of the strands. They are sold in sealed packages, so I was sort of choosing by THC potency.

Picked me up a Pax dab pen thingy for a dollar in a special promotional deal. The cartridges go about 65 dollars, double or even triple the black market rate. 

I'd show you the whole receipt, but my name is on it. You have to show your license a few times. The cops on detail there are friendly enough, happy to be picking up a day's pay for overseeing a friendly group of people.

The crowd actually trends elderly. One time that I was there, I was the youngest person in the line at 50 years old. People who I spoke with came from Boston, Stoughton, Yarmouth, Delaware, Colorado, Quincy, New Beffuh and other spots.

Weed is labeled meticulously, so you can be sure that you are getting your Recommended Daily Allowance of THC.

Wareham has had full capacity crowds most days, banking much tax money to help the town along. Once there are more stores open and Wareham is serving just the eastern South Coast and western Upper Cape, the parking should be less of an issue. They chose an awful spot, right next to Tobey Hospital. 

Ironically, they use the same Altoids tin sort of storage device that I favored back in 1986.

They didn't have the Dab Pen back in 1986. They probably did actually, but it hadn't diffused to my suburb.

My man comes up with a jar. Even that was sold in a cardboard box.

Woof!

Isn't the Long Walk what they make criminals do in Judge Dredd? This was an individually wrapped joint.

See?

They wouldn't let me take pictures inside. Inside, it looks like how small town pharmacies looked before CVS drove them all under. It looks nothing like the jewelry store scene they show you on TV. 

This stuff wasn't that good, a girl at work told me that the cartridge might be defective.

You get one if these as you hop on the bus, Gus... they won't let you into the store without one.

Rather than a den of sin, the pot house looks more like a New Hampshire town hall. I'm told it was an old ship captain house.

Try, Try Again... Bourne Bans Retail Pot

Bourne's elderly population voted to ban retail marijuana sales last night in a job killing, revenue denying disaster of a vote.

Bourne had already voted twice to allow marijuana sales in town, but they kept throwing the issue up until they got a vote on a rainy night when people with jobs and/or kids were unable to attend.

Spouting Jim Crow era reefer madness myths, the anti-revenue crowd scared enough old people to kill retail marijuana sales.

Poof!

Bourne just lost millions in potential pot sales revenue. They also lost jobs, property tax revenue, indirect business revenue from people who will now shop in Wareham and the chance to draw in some money from that summer bridge traffic.

In return, they strengthened the black market, eliminated any oversight on pot sales in Bourne and did nothing at all to eliminate marijuana use in Bourne.

As you can see from the picture at the top of this article, I had no problem getting marijuana in Bourne last night. Gifted, of course. No tax revenue from a sale went to Bourne. The guy who gifted it to me could sell weed to a 12 year old, with only an overmatched police force standing in his way. No funding was generated for schools, emergency services, DPW...

Don't worry, Main Street is thriving!

Wait, what? Oh yeah, Main Street is full of shuttered businesses. It's a ghost town, especially up near her sole tourist attraction, Buzzards Bay Park.

A pot store would fill one of those vacant businesses with a vibrant, guaranteed winner. It would serve an industry that is already in place and thriving, burgeoning with potential tax revenue. It would bleed business over to other stores on Main Street... yes, there are a few left.

Instead, all of that money went away... up in smoke, if you will.

The town is no less free of marijuana, which is readily available all over town.

Of course, safety isn't the real concern of the anti pot prople, which is why you won't see Linda Zeurn or whatever that sea hag's name is crusading against far more dangerous substances like tobacco or alcohol. Those are most likely her sponsors, and she really doesn't care if your kid gets splattered on a highway in a drunk driving accident.

That's why God made Wareham, folks. Plymouth, too. Poised as the last towns on Routes 3 and 25 to buy legal pot in before Cape Cod, they will serve the needs of their smokers and those of the Cape and all of her tourists. They will draw in millions in revenue.

That's the Money Train, G... but that train doesn't stop in Bourne. Bourne seems to be in an irreversible decline.