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Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Department of Public Health today announced the first 20 registered medical marijuana dispensaries to be awarded provisional licenses to open in Massachusetts.
The successful applicants were selected by a committee of experts from a pool of 100 that had been invited to apply after passing an earlier screening round.
The licensed dispensaries will be located in Ayer, Boston, Brockton, Brookline, Cambridge, Dennis, Fairhaven, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lowell, Mashpee, Milford, Newton, Northampton, Plymouth, Quincy, Salem, Taunton and Worcester. Boston will host two dispensaries.
“These recommendations are based on objective benchmarks including geographic dispersion, patient access, security, and readiness to operate,” said Walpole Deputy Police Chief and Selection Committee member John Carmichael Jr. in a statement released by the DPH. “The citizens of the Commonwealth can be assured that this process was thoroughly and accurately vetted.”
The voter-approved law establishing the Massachusetts medical marijuana program requires at least one dispensary in each county. Four counties – Berkshire, Dukes, Franklin and Nantucket – did not have applicants deemed qualified to operate a dispensary by the DPH selection committee.
To comply with the law, the selection committee will invite eight qualified applicants who were not granted a provisional dispensary license to revise their applications to include a site located in one of the four underserved counties. This process, or application Phase 2.2, will unfold over the coming months.
The licensed dispensaries will not be allowed to open until they can demonstrate compliance with all local ordinances, regulations, and bylaws.
The 2012 law authorized the licensing of up to 35 dispensaries in the first year of the program’s operation. Additional dispensaries could be licensed by the DPH in subsequent years.
More information on the results of the Phase 2 application process, including a map of dispensary locations and the Phase 2 applications, may be accessed at www.mass.gov/medicalmarijuana.