At an Essex County Superior Court hearing yesterday, Judge Jeffrey T. Karp said he was leaning toward rejecting Stem Haverhill’s claim that a 2022 change to state cannabis law should apply retroactively to the business’s 2018 agreement with the city. To operate in Massachusetts, recreational cannabis retailers must first create agreements with their host communities. Part of Stem’s agreement with Haverhill included certain fees to offset costs the city alleges are caused by the business’s existence. Those charges, totaling $887,488 over the past three years according to a July 2023 Stem press release, are the subject of a civil suit the shop filed in 2021. Stem owner Caroline Pineau told WHAV, “While our overriding hope was that Haverhill officials would follow the actions taken now by so many other municipalities, who have recognized that, indeed, legal cannabis presents no negative impacts, and have returned impact fee payments collected without evidence or justification, sadly, Haverhill did not do this, and the case is moving forward in court.”
Before hearing the trial, Karp asked both sides to help resolve five basic questions of law.
