URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n522/a01.html
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Pubdate: Wed, 03 Aug 2016
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2016 The Boston Herald, Inc
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Website: http://www.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
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Author: Dan Atkinson
MELLOW OPENING EYED FOR POT SHOP
‘Rush’ Not Expected at City’s First Facility
Today’s opening of the city’s first pot shop in Downtown Crossing could be a mellow affair, with the owners predicting the dispensary will draw a few dozen customers with medical marijuana cards per day in its initial weeks, before slowly increasing to 90 to 100 daily customers.
“We don’t expect a rush the way you think about for recreational facilities,” said Columbia Care CEO Nicholas Vita, whose nationwide company oversees the Massachusetts facility Patriot Care, at 21 Milk St.
The company first applied for a Boston location in 2013 – facing opposition from residents and several city councilors. Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who had questioned other dispensary applicants and has come out strongly against a ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, said yesterday he was comfortable with Patriot Care’s facility.
“They worked really hard with the community, there were a lot of changes made,” Walsh said. “That’s how the process should work; it worked out well.”
Police Commissioner William B. Evans also said he was pleased with Patriot Care’s setup and said the company had been working closely with police.
“I don’t have any problems with medical marijuana as long as it’s used for the right reasons,” Evans said.
The facility will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, and Boston police officers will be on detail outside the building daily, according to head of security George Agganis. A security guard will screen people after they enter the building’s lobby before they enter Patriot Care’s lobby, where they must display their state ID for buying marijuana and another photo ID before entering a separate waiting room.
The dispensary can hold 10 customers, as well as 10 sales associates, Vita said. Patriot Care will sell smokable marijuana as well as edibles and concentrates, and also will deliver.
As for the next pot shop, Mayflower Medicinals and Compassionate Organics are jockeying for space in Allston, with Mayflower recently receiving zoning board approval, while Happy Valley Ventures is looking to open a facility in East Boston.
There are 27,000 Bay State residents with medical pot cards.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom