With recreational marijuana now legal in Massachusetts, dozens of applications have been submitted for licenses to grow or sell the drug for recreational purposes. In anticipation, more than 200 Massachusetts towns have taken action to ban or delay any licenses in their communities.
Will pot shops be able to open in your town?
Below is a list of cities and towns in Massachusetts that have either outright banned recreational retail shops, or imposed a moratorium while town bylaws are addressed. This list is current as of June 21, 2018. Note that some of these municipalities have banned storefronts, but not recreational cultivation.
BAN IN PLACE ON RETAIL MARIJUANA SALES
Acushnet
Auburn
Barre
Bellingham
Braintree
Bridgewater
Burlington
Chatham
Chelmsford
Cohasset
Concord
Danvers
Dennis
Duxbury
East Bridgewater
East Longmeadow
Falmouth
Foxboro
Freetown
Hamilton
Hampden
Hanover
Harwich
Hingham
Holden
Holliston
Hopkinton
Hull
Lancaster
Lawrence
Lexington
Longmeadow
Ludlow
Lynnfield
Mattapoisett
Medfield
Medway
Merrimac
Methuen
Middleton
Milford
Milton
Mount Washington
Norfolk
North Andover
North Reading
Northboro
Norwood
Pembroke
Raynham
Reading
Revere
Sandwich
Scituate
South Hadley
Southboro
Southbridge
Southwick
Sterling
Stoneham
Stoughton
Sutton
Walpole
Wenham
West Boylston
West Bridgewater
Westboro
Westford
Weston
Weymouth
Whitman
Wilbraham
Wilmington
Winchester
Woburn
Yarmouth
MORATORIUM ENDS JUNE 30
Acushnet
Arlington
Barnstable
Boxboro
Canton
Carver
Cohasset
Dalton
Easton
Georgetown
Greenfield
Hamilton
Harwich
Hingham
Holden
Hubbardston
Ipswich
Kingston
Ludlow
Lynnfield
Medway
Middleton
Northboro
Norton
Norwell
Orleans
Palmer
Paxton
Plainville
Plympton
Sharon
Shelburne
Sherborn
Southwick
Sterling
Sudbury
Wakefield
Wareham
Winchendon
Wrentham
MORATORIUM ENDS JULY
Amhest 7/1/18
Belmont 7/1/18
Holyoke 7/1/18
South Hadley 7/1/18
MORATORIUM ENDS AUGUST
Hopkinton 8/31/18
MORATORIUM ENDS SEPTEMBER
Hull 9/30/18
Springfield 9/30/18
Williamsburg 9/30/18
MORATORIUM ENDS OCTOBER
Sutton 10/31/18
MORATORIUM ENDS NOVEMBER
Bedford 11/1/18
Bourne 11/30/18
Boxford 11/30/18
Grafton 11/30/18
Granby 11/30/18
Hadley 11/30/18
Lincoln 11/30/18
Lunenburg 11/30/18
Methuen 11/1/18
North Andover 11/30/18
Northbridge 11/30/18
Scituate 11/30/18
Spencer 11/30/18
Stow 11/1/18
Topsfield 11/30/18
MORATORIUM ENDS BEFORE DECEMBER 31
Amesbury 12/1/18
Dartmouth 12/6/18
East Brookfield 12/30/18
Haverhill 12/1/18
Lenox 12/18/18
Somerville 12/21/18
MORATORIUM ENDS DECEMBER 31
Acton
Agawam
Andover
Ashfield
Ashland
Attleboro
Auburn
Barre
Bernardston
Beverly
Billerica
Bridgewater
Brookline
Carlisle
Clinton
Concord
Conway
Danvers
Dedham
Dudley
Dunstable
Edgartown
Egremont
Essex
Fairhaven
Gloucester
Goshen
Groton
Hancock
Hanover
Hawley
Hinsdale
Holbrook
Holliston
Lancaster
Lexington
Littleton
Manchester
Marion
Marlboro
Mashpee
Mattapoisett
Melrose
Millis
Milton
Monterey
Nantucket
Natick
Needham
Newburyport
Newton
North Attleboro
Northfield
Oak Bluffs
Oxford
Peabody
Rehoboth
Richmond
Rutland
Salisbury
Seekonk
Shutesbury
Southampton
Stockbridge
Sturbridge
Taunton
Tewksbury
Townsend
Tyngsboro
Upton
Watertown
Wayland
Webster
Wellesley
West Stockbridge
Westhampton
Westminster
Yarmouth
MORATORIUM ENDS IN 2019
Abington 6/30/19
Berlin 6/30/19
Douglas 1/1/19
Florida 6/30/19
Mansfield 6/30/19
New Braintree 3/31/19
New Marlboro 6/30/19
Rochester 6/30/19
The above information was compiled by WBZ-TV and the Massachusetts Municipal Association, a statewide nonprofit, nonpartisan association.
