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Mayor Walsh Appoints 5 To New Boston Board Overseeing Legal Cannabis Industry

Boston is launching a new board to oversee the city's recreational marijuana industry.

Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh on Wednesday announced the five members of the city's Cannabis Board that will review all applicants for marijuana licenses.

They are Kathleen Joyce, chair of Boston's Licensing Board; Monica Valdes Lupi, Boston's former health commissioner; Darlene Lombos, the executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Boston Labor Council; Lisa Holmes, a former superintendent of the Boston Police Department; and John Smith, a director at a local nonprofit consultancy firm.

The members will serve two-year terms, earn $600 a day, and be prohibited from financially benefiting from any cannabis company in the city, according an executive order Walsh signed Wednesday.

The board was created last year amid concerns Boston's process for vetting marijuana businesses was too cumbersome and opaque.

The ordinance, which was signed by Walsh, also requires Boston to ensure that at least half of its marijuana licenses go to companies from communities affected by the war on drugs.

Nearly 40 retail pot shops are open in the state, but none are in Boston. Pure Oasis is set to open in the coming weeks as the city's first.

Walsh says his office has reached host community agreements with 14 marijuana companies.

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