Life lessons come from all directions. Consider the takeaway for Megan Sheehan, a Barrington lawyer: “My great aunties told me, ‘I just discovered vape pens!’ ”
It was an aha moment for Sheehan, who says she now uses cannabis for insomnia.
She’s not alone. “The majority of older members in my extended family are cannabis consumers,” she said.
“When clients began asking me how to get into hemp and CBD, I got excited. It’s interesting legally because cannabis intersects with state, federal and criminal law. There are a lot of gray areas,” she said.
Initially, Sheehan’s practice had been primarily in general law, but she also volunteered with patient advocacy groups. She saw how cannabis could help those with epilepsy or suffering serious pain. Using marijuana lets them avoid opioids.
She started taking clients in the cannabis business in 2017, then launched Green Path Legal, an all-female practice in Barrington that focuses on marijuana issues, in 2022. It was the same year Rhode Island legalized adult recreational use.
A military kid, Sheehan lived in Massachusetts and North Carolina before the family settled in Lexington, Mass. Her mother, Maura, waitressed while attending law school when Sheehan was in elementary school. “I tagged along to classes with her when I was a kid,” she said. “I never wanted to be a lawyer though.”
After high school, Sheehan headed west, to Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., a school that emphasizes internationalism, multiculturalism and service to society.
After college, she moved to Philadelphia and a job at the Prometheus Radio Project, a nonprofit that advocates for low-power radio stations as a tool for social justice organizing. “I worked with a telecommunications lawyer who practiced in this boring area of the law but he’d made it interesting,” she said.
She was fascinated by that contradiction and after six years in Philly, enrolled in Vermont Law School. As a student, she volunteered at the Vermont Workers’ Center and after graduation, stayed on as operations director. She eventually moved to southern New England to be closer to family.
Initially, Sheehan worked alongside her mother as a lawyer at Sheehan & Associates Law LLC, but as cannabis was legalized in more jurisdictions, the laws surrounding it intrigued her. Clients were asking for advice in areas ranging from plant cultivation and retail dispensaries to licensing and zoning disputes. It was time to launch Green Path as an adjunct practice, and Sheehan has represented hundreds of clients in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
She laughs when asked what legal problems clients wrestle with. “So many. From the beginning, we did a lot of business structuring, setting up bylaws. You get groups who want to get into the cannabis industry because they’re passionate about it, while others have money. We help them figure out how to work together. Or they may have a problem with a trademark. Or it may be an issue finding a business location. Some leases say you can’t violate federal law,” she said. Marijuana use is still illegal on a federal level.
Part of Sheehan’s work revolves around educating clients appearing before local zoning and planning boards. In a recent case, her firm successfully represented a Black pharmacist who’d won a license to open a compassion center in Woonsocket. The city zoning board had turned down the special use permit, saying, among other things, it wouldn’t fit with the neighborhood, which already had a methadone clinic.
“We appealed it to a Superior Court judge and won,” she said. “Although the judge didn’t rule on the issue of race, we believe it was a factor.”
Although Rhode Island is behind its neighbors in decriminalizing pot use, that’s also an opportunity. The state can learn from the best practices of others, she says.
One lesson that’s already obvious: There are many more cultivational licenses available than those for dispensaries, driving down the price of medical marijuana too far, and threatening those businesses.
Also crystal clear is the huge start-up expense. A would-be entrepreneur has to afford rent for a prospective location while waiting for the next lottery of licenses. Simply applying for one can cost $10,000, and the last round of compassionate licenses went for $500,000, although Sheehan says she expects that the fee will drop to $150,000 next time. A cannabis entrepreneur needs deep pockets, which eliminates a lot of historically disadvantaged groups in the community, she says.
To overcome that and to help advance social equity for patients, consumers and entrepreneurs, Green Path co-sponsors regular social equity policy salons around the state. These allow people to network over upcoming legislation. The firm also co-sponsors in-person meetings so those in the cannabis world can share insights. Sheehan is as passionate about the cause as some of her clients.
“I love this area. You meet the most interesting people and you need creative problem-solving. I believe in the plant and its potential to do good in the world,” she said. “The cannabis community is really smart.”
