A pay-to-play system has developed between state-licensed cannabis operators and municipal governments across the country for local zoning. The same model has quickly materialized in Pennsylvania, and now one town has gone too far.
Muhlenberg Township in Berks County was trying to squeeze a dispensary — Franklin Bioscience LLC — for 5 percent of its annual profits.
STATE BY STATE: Pennsylvania Cannabis News
The issue was revealed when the Pennsylvania Department of Health released a letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer from medical-marijuana program director John Collins to the company’s CEO, Andrew Weiss, allowing the dispensary to relocate after getting pressured for the cash.
Towns and cities usually offer huge tax breaks and pro-business incentives to lure jobs. Quite the opposite is happening for the cannabis oil operators. But far from being victims, the permit applicants helped create the problem: In the early rush for approval letters and favorable zoning, they made a wide range of promises to local officials.
