Massachusetts

‘A Pain in the Neck': Officials Hold Emergency Pot Shop Meeting to Address Residents' Traffic Concerns

'Nobody had any idea it was going to be this big or this popular,' said a Leicester town administrator of how busy it has been at Cultivate

Despite the rain Monday night, there was still a line outside Cultivate in Leicester, Massachusetts.

“We’ve been waiting two hours in the car,” said Chris Mankoschewski. “Then you have to wait another hour just to get on the shuttle, and I don’t even know how long we’re going to wait in this line.”

All that waiting is leading to frustration for people who live nearby with so many cars clogging up the neighborhood.

Cultivate, one of the state’s two new pot shops selling recreational marijuana, is going through about a thousand customers a day.

“It’s just a pain...in the neck,” said neighbor Mark Castonguay. “Good word.”

Castonguay says it’s been nearly impossible to get in and out of his driveway with so many cars on Main Street.

“Where are all these people coming from? I mean, you’re talking hundreds of cars for the last seven days,” said Castonguay. "What, they've never had this stuff before? Go to your regular dealer."

At an emergency town hall meeting Monday night to discuss all the congestion, some residents say there's been public urination, and others say they’ve lost their privacy.

“We have cars outside of our house seven days a week,” said neighbor Dawn Gauthier. “We have no life, it’s like living in a fishbowl.”

Town officials say the interest is much more than they anticipated, and they’re working on short term solutions, like more parking, and improved signage to make it easier for drivers to move around.

“People have to understand this is something new in this state,” said Leicester Town Administrator David Genereux. “Nobody had any idea it was going to be this big or this popular.”

Town officials are hoping the novelty dies down and the crowds subside, especially as more pot shops open up around the state in the weeks and months ahead.

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