By Alexander LaCasse, news correspondent
The United States Department of Public Health (DPH) gave Patriot Care Corp, a Massachusetts alternative healthcare provider, the final go-ahead to open Boston’s first medical marijuana dispensary on Friday, Nov. 7.
Patriot Care Corp has also received clearance to open two more dispensaries in Lowell and Greenfield, respectively. DPH approval makes Patriot Care Corp the only medical marijuana vendor in a position to operate three facilities in the Commonwealth.
Two other dispensaries, Coastal Compassion and MassMedicum, also received approval from the DPH to open facilities in Fairhaven and Tauton, respectively.
“The Department of Public Health has taken the next step forward in the process of implementing the law,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s press secretary Kate Norton said in an email to The News. “The City will work with our partners at the state level to ensure that any dispensary in Boston complies with all local regulations and guidelines.”
Massachusetts voters approved medical marijuana in a ballot question back in 2012, but the licensing process has been slow, and the screening process of applicants has suffered numerous setbacks.
“I think this is a long time coming,” Henry Deadrick, a communications major at Lynchburg College who is enrolled in a class at Northeastern, said. “The Massachusetts economy will be greatly improved because a whole new sector of jobs will be added.”
In January, 20 dispensaries were given provisional licenses to operate out of an original applicant pool of 100, according to a Jan. 31 press release from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
“We are pleased to announce that qualified patients will soon have full access to marijuana for medical use in Massachusetts,” Medical use of Marijuana program Executive Director Karen van Unen said in the press release. “Only dispensaries with the highest quality applications were selected to be a part of this new industry, which will create hundreds of jobs while maintaining community safety.”
Since then, nine of those applicants have been disqualified. The Boston Globe reported on Nov. 7 that throughout the summer, rejected applicants filed multiple lawsuits against the DPH. Thorough investigations into some of the applicants on the part of the DPH yielded applicants with questionable finances and background concerns from some of the potential vendors.
“The DPH had a lot of work to do to investigate these companies,” Phil Silverman, the attorney for MassMedicum, said. “It’s been a long process, but you need to understand the DPH hasn’t done this before. When you go through this the first time, I think it was as much a learning process for the DPH.”
Some Northeastern students say it is about time the law is finally going to work for patients.
“I think this system has the possibility to be abused,” Ben Hughes, a third-year graphic design major, said. “But it’s not about people abusing the system because these people would get marijuana anyway. It’s about giving the patients who benefit from this treatment a safe and reliable way to get what they need.”
Patriot Care Corp has faced legal questions in Arizona and Washington, D.C., where they operate dispensaries. The company also applied for a dispensary license and was denied in Connecticut, according to the Globe. According to NPR, former DPH official Daniel Delaney lobbied on behalf of five potential marijuana dispensaries with two being successful.
“I think [the DPH] wanted to be very thorough in vetting all these applicants,” Silverman said. “I find it hard to blame them for the administrative lag.”
Photo courtesy Marijuana Connections.com, Creative Commons
