New Westport cannabis committee struggles to find members out of targeting fear

Police Det. Jeff Majewski asserted that members who follow state marijuana laws won't be targeted

WESTPORT — Selectmen regularly discuss committees and openings on them, but the effort to form a new group is running into an unusual problem.

Selectmen though are finding a unique reason as to why the Craft Co-Op Cannabis Committee has vacancies — some people fear that committee participants could be targeted by police.

“If they (police) interfere, I want to know about it. We don’t accept the police department targeting anybody,” Selectmen Chairwoman Shana Shufelt said. “ I want people to feel comfortable.”

Shufelt added that she does not believe any targeting has taken place. She also indicated that police investigations are autonomous and selectmen are not made privy as to what precipitates a police investigation.

Her comments come less than a few weeks after farmer Averyl Andrade, owner of Between the Rows LLC, was charged with illegal cultivation of and conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Andrade, of New Bedford, rents farmland on American Legion highway, which is nearby the Russel Davis Youth Soccer field.

Andrade has met with town boards and persuaded selectmen to consider forming the co-op committee, which would develop bylaws to allow farmers to grow marijuana.

The charges against her were released the day after her meeting with selectmen.

Police Det. Jeff Majewski asserted that the only “targeting” involved was through the property’s red and white “81” sign that police said is in connection to the Hells Angels Outlaw motorcycle group.

“The site on American Legion Highway was targeted because it has a Hells Angels sign, it is within 200 feet of the Russell Davis Town Youth Soccer field and Averyl Andrade and a team of others conspired to break the law,” Majewski said on Tuesday.

He added that police and other agencies learned that marijuana vendors were brought on site and some DAB bars were being sold, which contain up to 24 percent more THC than what the state Cannabis Control Commission allows.

“Quite simply if people stay within the legal parameters of the current law no one should be concerned about being targeted. One adult on or in their own residence may grow up to six plants or up to six pounds. Anyone going beyond that is breaking the law and probably selling their excess marijuana.”

Police say that 19 plants were seized earlier this month on that American Legion Highway plot farm, owned by Timothy Barreira.

Andrade stated to police that some of the plants belonged to Healthy Futures, some belonged to Between the Rows, and others belonged to a Between the Rows partner.

She stated to police she was not aware that the pot parties were breaking the law.

Andrade has told selectmen, the Planning Board and the Agricultural Commission that farmers selling marijuana would be good for the local economy and help farmers to stay financially afloat.

Recreational marijuana, through a ballot and a Town Meeting vote, is banned from being sold within town borders. However, Andrade and other say that a bylaw would allow farmers grow it, and a subsequent zoning bylaw would help officials determine its locations.