Prospective pot shop promising to help community plagued with problems

Emotions ran high for more than three hours as a prospective pot shop pled to use its profits and product to make a difference in the community.

Their proposal would put a medical marijuana dispensary right in the midst of a cluster of methadone clinics and homeless shelters, and conflicting opinions escalated as to whether the business could help fight the epidemic in the community.

The entrepreneurs hoping to open Alchemy League in the crosshairs of Methadone Mile say they're experts on the issues because they were raised in the area.

“It’s tiring," Leah Daniels of Alchemy League said. "I’m the only one representing community and I have to bear that burden on my back."

If she's granted a retail marijuana license, Daniels and her partner promise to use it to use their profit and product to help: to use marijuana in an effort to fight the opioid epidemic.

That pledge was met with passionate and conflicting points of view.

"I had a 20-year drug addiction," Robert Jeffrey, who grew up in group homes in Roxbury and Dorchester, said. "Cannabis has saved my life."

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Meanwhile, a local pastor had a differing opinion.

"Adding one more drug making it easier to procure, at best naive," Roberto Miranda said. "At worst, cynical and evil."

Tempers flared at the podium, as differences in opinion soared throughout the packed house.

Back and forth arguments were heating up for hours, as Alchemy League vowed to do everything it can to open up shop.

“These things are going to be opening anyway," Salisbury resident Samson Racioppi said. "She genuinely wants to help the neighborhood get over opioid addiction and homelessness."

On the other end, Sam Acevedo, director of Boston Higher Education resource center, called the move "immoral."

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"It’s immoral to open that dispensary in very neighborhood that’s facing the most grave opioid challenge in the city of Boston," Acevedo said.

Alchemy League said it has been approved as an economic empowerment applicant, and told nearly 200 attendees it will not only use marijuana to help fight the opioid epidemic, but also promises to give local residents financial help, including assistance on down payments of homes.

There are also two other prospective pot shops trying to open up within a half-mile radius, which could hurt its chances based on city zoning rules.

Cox Media Group