A year after first two recreational marijuana shops opened in Massachusetts, a mostly warm buzz

A year after the first recreational marijuana shops opened in Massachusetts, cannabis product sales have generated nearly $3.5 million in combined taxes and fees and a generally warm buzz for the first two towns to allow it.

The revenue represents the first full year’s worth of the collected 3% local sales tax and the negotiated community impact fees for Northampton and Leicester. Dozens more communities are already on board: At the one-year anniversary of the state’s first recreational shops, the state has licensed 33 dispensaries to open in 32 communities (Pittsfield has two dispensaries) which have combined generated $364 million in sales through Oct. 27.

“It’s been one year and I think the experience has been positive for Northampton overall,” said Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz. “We’ve had no major issues, no major uptick in crime. We’ve had a major uptick in visitorship and upticks in spending on meals and hotel/motel, and obviously we’ve had strong revenue from retail cannabis at least.”

In Northampton, New England Treatment Access (NETA) has generated $1.5 million in local taxes in the three quarters collected so far, which represents 3 percent of the dispensary’s gross sales. [Read more at MassLive]