Voters will have the opportunity to approve new local rules related to the sale of recreational marijuana at a Special Town Meeting scheduled for March 12 at 7 p.m. in Wareham High School. All registered voters may attend.

In a recent member story on Wareham Week, Selectmen Chair Peter Teitelbaum urged Wareham residents to attend the meeting and vote "so that we have at least some control on the books over the number and location of retail marijuana establishments."

In November 2016, a state ballot question passed that paved the way for recreational sales of marijuana in Massachusetts. The state’s Cannabis Control Commission is drafting a framework for the oversight of retail marijuana shops. Those shops are due to open in July, and it is currently legal to possess and grow marijuana for personal use.

At Town Meeting last year, voters approved a moratorium on retail marijuana shops to allow officials time to draft rules governing sales. That moratorium expires June 30. April 1 marks the first day the Cannabis Control Commission must start accepting applications from potential marijuana retailers, cultivators and product manufacturers.

At Special Town Meeting, voters will decide whether or not they want to limit the number and location of retail marijuana shops. Under the bylaw, the number of recreational marijuana shops would be limited to three, tied to the number of liquor stores in town.

The state recommends limiting pot shops to less than 20 percent of the number of package stores. In Wareham, there are 13 package stores.

There are some state rules, such as prohibiting stores from opening up within 500 feet of a school or anywhere children normally gather. There will be four items on the Special Town Meeting agenda. Three will be zoning bylaws and one will be a bylaw allowing the Town of Wareham to collect a 3 percent excise tax from sales.

Wareham’s rules, if adopted, would require those stores to open in the industrial, strip commercial east of Depot Street and institutional districts. The strip commercial district is located just past Robertson’s Auto Salvage on Route 25 and extends to the Bourne town line. The institutional district is located near Tobey Hospital.

Already the town has seen interest from three potential recreational marijuana developers. All three have approached the Planning Department, but no official paperwork has been filed yet.