Emerson College's student newspaper

The Berkeley Beacon

Emerson College's student newspaper

The Berkeley Beacon

Emerson College's student newspaper

The Berkeley Beacon

Overlooking the tents at the Boston Freedom Rally.

MassCann hosts 33rd annual Boston Freedom Rally

By Bishop Marshall and Sabrina Lam
September 21, 2022

The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition hosted its 33rd annual Boston Freedom Rally in the Boston Common Saturday, known by most attendees as “HempFest.”  Originally, the coalition’s mission...

Hempfest in Boston Common

Marijuana festival hits Boston Common

By Mariyam Quaisar and Bailey Allen
September 25, 2021

Emerson students grabbed their stashes and lined Boston Common on Saturday, joining the crowds gathered for a fair of marijuana and cannabis-related paraphernalia. The Boston Freedom Rally has been...

Three weed dealers––Jamie, Alex, and John––who spoke with The Beacon on the condition of anonymity, discussed their life as dealers on campus and how it impacts their customers.

Let’s Be Really Blunt: Student dealers on what it’s like being “The Plug”

By Campbell Parish and Karissa Schaefer
May 1, 2021

College students, often overwhelmed by the pressures of schoolwork, social life, and on-campus extracurricular commitments, not to mention jobs, have increasingly turned to weed as an outlet for their...

 Even as white and Black people use cannabis at similar rates, Black people are 3.64 times more likely to be arrested on charges of weed possession, according to a 2020 ACLU report.

The luxury of neighborhood dispensaries deny America’s racist cannabis criminalization

By Joshua Sokol, Staff Writer
May 1, 2021

In 1936, a film titled “Reefer Madness” hit the silver screen. Originally titled “Tell Your Children,” the black & white cinema explored the “dangers” of smoking weed through a tale of...

Smokey Coffeeshop is just one of the many social cannabis consumption spaces in Amsterdam.

Massachusetts must open social cannabis consumption spaces

By Clarah Grossman
May 1, 2021

There we were, three college seniors in pajamas on the back porch, huddled close together in the Boston cold, sharing a celebratory joint after one of us got a full-time job post-graduation.  Except,...

New England Treatment Access (NETA) in Brookline.

Boston dispensaries turn a new leaf amid pandemic

By Ann E. Matica, Deputy News Editor
May 1, 2021

Pure Oasis, the first recreational dispensary to open in a major city on the East Coast, opened its doors for the first time in Boston on March 9, 2020, only to close them two weeks later. The shop was...

Cannabis Control Commision Chairman Steve Hoffman speaks to the media after the CCC voted to approve delivery regulations. Montse Landeros / Beacon Correspondent

Cannabis delivery regulations passed

By Diana Bravo, Copyeditor/Photographer
September 25, 2019

The Cannabis Control Commission voted to approve regulations allowing marijuana delivery and a pilot program for social consumption facilities in their Tuesday meeting. The commission voted 4-1 to finalize...

NETA opened its first recreational shop close to a green line Riverway stop in Brookline. Photo by William Bloxham / Beacon Staff

First recreational cannabis shop to open in greater Boston area

By Hanna Marchesseault
March 21, 2019

New England Treatment Access Brookline location will open on March 23 as the first dispensary to offer non-medicinal cannabis in the greater Boston area. Director of Compliance for NETA Amanda Rositano...

This month, Emerson Polling Society has surveyed marijuana opinions nationwide.

More than half of Americans support marijuana legalization, says ECPS poll

By Grace Griffin, Copy Editor
March 27, 2018

The Emerson Polling Society made a name for itself by receiving national attention for polling the 2016 presidential election. This month, their polling efforts are going toward collecting data on public...

We need to place smokers and non-smokers on the same moral ground, neither above the other for their choices surrounding drugs. Illustration by Ally Rzesa / Beacon Staff

Cannabis should not dictate creativity

By Abigail Hadfield, Deputy Copy Editor
March 27, 2018

In my first literature course at Emerson, I read a beautiful poem by one of my classmates that impressed and moved me. When I told them how much I loved reading it, they informed me they always write better...

Load More Stories