Massachusetts cities and towns are exacting increasingly hefty payments from medical marijuana dispensaries in exchange for letters the companies need to win state licenses, a Globe review of recent compacts shows.
In Worcester, a dispensary promised to pay the city $450,000 over three years — and $200,000 a year after that — if officials gave their blessing to the business.
In Springfield, the city is negotiating a deal that would ultimately take 7 percent of a dispensary’s revenue, plus a $50,000 annual donation to the Police Department — a pact that could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And in Salem, where the first dispensary opened a year ago, the medical marijuana shop contributed $82,856, a paltry amount compared with more recent deals.
“It’s quite clear if you don’t negotiate an agreement, you don’t get a letter,” said James E. Smith, a Boston attorney who represents a marijuana company that signed one of the larger agreements in March, with the City of Worcester.
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