In April 2019, two women, referring to themselves as the “co-proprietors of Littleton Apothecary,” submitted their written proposal to the Littleton Board of Selectmen* on the hope that they might be granted a license to open a recreational cannabis shop in Littleton. The women’s proposal, in a nutshell, was to open a super cool recreational cannabis shop in Littleton in early 2020 and use their profits to positively impact the town.

There were two licenses for the Board of Selectmen to grant, and the co-proprietors of Littleton Apothecary wanted one of them.

The women’s proposal addressed the nuts and bolts of how they planned to operate not only within the letter of the law (935 CMR 500.00) but also within the community of Littleton itself, where both women lived and were raising (between them) six children, and—frightening to many—where there’d never before been a retail cannabis store.

A substantial and attractive component of Littleton Apothecary’s written proposal rested on the co-proprietors’ plan to take $3,000,000.00^ of the early profits from the cannabis sales at Littleton Apothecary and endow a trust, named The Littleton Project.

The Littleton Project would be overseen by a board of Littleton residents, who would be tasked with awarding cash grants (funded by the endowed trust’s earned interest) to Littleton non-profits, Littleton civic groups, and even to Littleton residents to support the “good works in town” that oftentimes would stall or be completely unrealized due to a lack of funds.

What was proposed in writing to the Board of Selectmen by the co-proprietors in April 2019 was formally presented to the board a month later in an open public meeting. The women gave a PowerPoint presentation, highlighting The Littleton Project; they took questions from the board.

Every member of the then-board loved the philanthropic aspect of Littleton Apothecary’s proposal. In fact, I believe the promise of The Littleton Project was the primary reason why the then-board was willing to take a chance on granting a highly desirable license to two middle-aged women—neither of whom had any practical experience in “the cannabis space.”

In mid-June 2019, one of the co-proprietors of Littleton Apothecary went to the Board of Selectmen’s office at Town Hall and removed the other woman’s name from the written co-proposal. Thereafter, that same woman announced on social media that she was going to be moving forward as the sole proprietor of Littleton Apothecary.**

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