After more than two years of legal cannabis sales, it’s hard to make a case that towns have incurred any such costs.  There have been no reported incidents of sales to minors, no reports of increased crime around cannabis stores, no reported increase in cannabis-intoxicated driving arrests, no reported impacts on nearby businesses or neighborhoods, and no reported staffing or budget increases in police, fire, or health departments attributable to cannabis stores.

The most visible town involvement has been police details, most of which have been discontinued and all of which were paid directly by cannabis store operating funds, not through community impact fees.  In short, towns are collecting that extra 3 percent for costs that don’t exist.