The Elusive Cannabis Goose, Littleton
Nearly eight weeks ago, on January 12, 2024, I submitted a public records request (PRR) to the Littleton Police Department requesting any records of the department’s involvement with Sanctuary Medicinals at 234 Taylor Street from March 2016 to present day. Click HERE for background on that request.
The laws regarding PRRs direct the holder of the requested public records to comply with the PRR within ten (10) business days.
On January 29, 2024, I reached out Littleton’s Town Clerk to confirm that “Day 10” had arrived. I was told that there’d been a “glitch in our system” and was asked if I would be willing to wait until Wednesday.
In reply to the town clerk’s request for a “couple of extra days on this,” I wrote, “The sooner the better please. The requested info may be relevant to the Planning Board which is considering Sanctuary's request to renew its special permit on Thursday” since Sanctuary Medicinals was scheduled to be before the Planning Board on Thursday, February 1st:
On January 30, 2024, I received four “Incident Reports”
In February 2020, LPD investigated a report alleging larceny of a dropped (and later found and returned) wallet at 234 Taylor Street;
In April 2022, LPD investigated a report by a Sanctuary employee alleging his Snap-On socket set had been stolen. Later, this employee found his property and told the police, “I don't need this matter pursued any further. There's nobody to investigate. The tools have been found.”
In March 2023, LPD investigated an allegation of trespass at 234 Taylor Street. After investigation, it appears that the alleged trespasser has dementia and had inadvertently wandered onto Sanctuary’s property.
In November 2023, LPD responded to 234 Taylor Street when a call came in that a Sanctuary employee was bleeding after he hit his head on a pipe.
The police call log from March 2016 to date included:
Forty-five (45) calls where LPD was present to assist the Littleton Fire Department. These calls related to Sanctuary’s box alarms, CO2 detector alarms, and medical/mental emergencies;
Twelve (12) calls for Sanctuary’s “burglar alarm;”
Ten (10) calls for “general services;”
Nine (9) accidental 911 calls;
Eight (8) motor vehicle stops/accidents on Taylor Street along Sanctuary’s building frontage at 234 Taylor Street;
One (1) “disturbance;”
One (1) “community policing;” and
One (1) “suspicious activity.”
My PPR of January 12, 2024—which spanned nearly eight years, contained zero (0) records of complaints about the smell at Sanctuary Medicinals.
How could this be?
I was given to understand that over the last eight years people had complained about the smell, and I’d been told—by more than one person—that LPD (specifically Chief Matthew Pinard) had been out to 234 Taylor Street in response to complaints about the smell, frequently with Chuck Decoste at his side.
On January 30th, I reached out to someone who might have some historical knowledge on the fielding of these complaints and was told that the Select Board and the Board of Health both fielded calls from residents complaining of the smell coming from Sanctuary.
On January 31st, I called one of the several people who had reported seeing Chief Pinard and Chuck at Sanctuary (“on multiple occasions”) and I told that person that my PRR yielded nothing, and asked, “How could this be?”
That’s when I was informed that Sanctuary had come up with a “back-channel way” to deal with the complaints about the smell: people were told to email Chief Pinard and then Chief Pinard would “email Jason” about the complaint and that “sometimes Chuck was there, too.”
On January 31, 2024, I made a PRR to see if there was any evidence of this alleged “back-channel way” of dealing with complaints about the smell of cannabis coming from Sanctuary. I asked for:
“Any and all email communication (March 2018 to date) that Chief Pinard has had with:
Littletonians complaining of the smell of cannabis/marijuana coming from Sanctuary Medicinals at 234 Taylor Street
Jason Sidman and/or Nick Satmary and/or Michael Allen and/or Judy Smith and/or David Castro and/or anyone with an email address that would indicate employment by Sanctuary Medicinals
Chuck Decoste
Other parties where the topic was related to the smell of cannabis/marijuana coming from Sanctuary Medicinals at 234 Taylor Street”
And “any and all email communication (March 2018 to date) that Littleton's Board of Health (through either its Health Agent from Nashoba Allied or through members of the BoH) has had with:
Littletonians complaining of the smell of cannabis/marijuana coming from Sanctuary Medicinals at 234 Taylor Street
Jason Sidman and/or Nick Satmary and/or Michael Allen and/or Judy Smith and/or David Castro and/or anyone with an email address that would indicate employment by Sanctuary Medicinals
Chuck Decoste
Other parties where the topic was related to the smell of cannabis/marijuana coming from Sanctuary Medicinals at 234 Taylor Street”
On February 15, 2024, I learned that there were one thousand eight (1,008) responsive documents to my PRR:
The Town cannot determine from an email address whether an individual is a resident of Littleton. However, for Part (4) of your request, the Town ran a search of all email communications between Chief Pinard and all individuals, other than Chuck Decoste or those with an email ending in “@sanctuarymed.com,” containing the terms (“Sanctuary” OR “234 Taylor”) AND (“smell”) AND (“cannabis” OR “marijuana”). Residents of Littleton would be included in this request.
The Town ran a search of all email communications between Chief Pinard and anyone with an email ending in “@sanctuarymed.com.” This search revealed approximately 15 potentially responsive records.
The Town ran a search of all email communications between Chief Pinard and Chuck Decoste. This search revealed approximately 965 potentially responsive records.
The Town ran a search of all email communications between Chief Pinard and individuals other than Chuck Decoste or those with an email ending in “@sanctuarymed.com,” containing the terms (“Sanctuary” OR “234 Taylor”) AND (“smell”) AND (“cannabis” OR “marijuana”). This search revealed approximately 6 potentially responsive records.
Similar to Part (1) of your request, the Town cannot determine from an email address whether an individual is a resident of Littleton. However, for Part (8) of your request, the Town ran a search of all email communications between the Littleton Board of Health and Town ran a search of all email communications between Chief Pinard and individuals other than Chuck Decoste or those with an email ending in “@sanctuarymed.com,” containing the terms (“Sanctuary” OR “234 Taylor”) AND (“smell”) AND (“cannabis” OR “marijuana”). Residents of Littleton would be included in this request.
The Town ran a search of all email communications between the Littleton Board of Health and anyone with an email ending in “@sanctuarymed.com.” This search revealed 0 potentially responsive records.
The Town ran a search of all email communications between Littleton Board of Health and Chuck Decoste. This search revealed 0 potentially responsive records.
The Town ran a search of all email communications between the Littleton Board of Health and individuals other than Chuck Decoste or those with an email ending in “@sanctuarymed.com,” containing the terms (“Sanctuary” OR “234 Taylor”) AND (“smell”) AND (“cannabis” OR “marijuana”). This search revealed approximately 22 potentially responsive records.
I was also told this:
Based on our experience, it takes on average approximately 3 minutes to review an email of this nature. Therefore, if you choose to move forward with your request as it stands, it will take approximately 50.4 hours to complete. In this case, the Town will petition the Supervisor of Records to charge a rate of $25.00 per hour for segregating and redacting these records. As such, the fee estimate for this request would be $1,260.00.
On Wednesday, February 21st, I refined my request to include the forty-three (43) potentially responsive records and, for the time being, omitting the nine hundred sixty-five (965) emails between Chief Pinard and Chuck, specifically asking for:
The email communications between Chief Pinard and anyone with an email ending in “@sanctuarymed.com,” which had yielded fifteen (15) potentially responsive records.
The email communications between Chief Pinard and individuals other than Chuck Decoste or those with an email ending in @sanctuarymed.com,” containing the terms (“Sanctuary” OR “234 Taylor”) AND (“smell”) AND (“cannabis” OR “marijuana”), which had revealed approximately six (6) potentially responsive records.
The email communications between the Littleton Board of Health and individuals other than Chuck Decoste or those with an email ending in “@sanctuarymed.com,” containing the terms (“Sanctuary” OR “234 Taylor”) AND (“smell”) AND (“cannabis” OR “marijuana”), which had revealed approximately twenty-two (22) potentially responsive records.
I offered to pay for the time to provide these 43 potentially responsive records and figured that these would be immediately forthcoming since they’d already been found.
On the morning of Friday, February 23rd, the town clerk told me there would be no charge for the 43 potentially responsive records and that they were “working on it now.” I figured I’d see the 43 records by the end of the day.
On Monday, February 26th, having not received anything on Friday the 23rd, I asked the town clerk, “today?”
On Wednesday, February 28th, I sent this to the town clerk: “The modified request doesn't tack on more time, does it? That would surprise me. Would you let me know what to expect?”
On Friday, March 1st, with still no indication about when I might see the records that I first requested on January 31st, I sent this to the town clerk:
hi there
resending as i'm curious about when i might see the records you found already
thx
As of today, I’ve not received these 43 potentially responsive records.
Two days from today, on Thursday, March 7th, the Select Board and Planning Board are having a joint meeting:
This meeting will include the public hearing on whether to allow Sanctuary Medicinals to renew its Special Permit to grow cannabis in Littleton. As this is a public hearing, the public is permitted to comment.
Also, the Select Board and Planning Board will be discussing amending the zoning bylaws relative to cannabis in town:
If you’re interested in the draft bylaw that’s being discussed relative to amending Littleton’s cannabis-related bylaws, click HERE. Because this agenda item is not a “public hearing,” public comment might not be allowed on this matter during the join boards’ discussion.
Nearly eight weeks ago, I started on this goose-chase.
Although these cannabis geese are elusive, I’m still chasing them,
Jenna