Community Corner
Where Should the Island's Marijuana Shop be Located?
Prospective medical-marijuana dispensary owners are ready to apply for permits to operate on Martha's Vineyard once the state has finalized its rules. Where on the Island would you like to see a pot dispensary? Tell us in the comments.
At least two local entrepreneurs are poised to open medical marijuana clinics on Martha's Vineyard, a local youth activist told selectmen from several towns last week.
"We’ve had two people with very solid business plans come to seek our endorsement," said Theresa Manning of the Martha's Vineyard Youth Task Force during Thursday's all-Island selectmen's meeting at Tisbury Town Hall.
The task force is "not in a position" to endorse a prospective clinic, Manning said. But, "in our role to make sure this happens responsibly for kids in our community, we’ve developed a relationship with people in the community who want to pursue these endeavors," she told selectmen.
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The state attorney general ruled last week that municipalities cannot ban medical marijuana dispensaries outright.
But until the state department of health issues its rules on how medical marijuana may be sold and used, youth task force advocates are urging Martha's Vineyard towns to hold off on approving clinics and to ban the use of prescription pot in public places.
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"If you don’t want (marijuana) smoking in public, you have to have something on the books," said task force member Mike Joyce.
A pot-smoking ban and a moratorium on issuing dispensary permits is on the town meeting or special town meeting warrant in each of three towns: Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Tisbury.
That leaves the Island's three other towns open to the possibility that a medical marijuana clinic could receive state permission to operate in one of them, cautioned Manning at the all-Island meeting.
"West Tisbury, Chilmark, Aquinnah: If you don’t have a moratorium in your town, these people are pretty poised to start up, which is their right," Manning said.
Tisbury selectman Tristan Israel, who chaired the meeting, requested suggestions for where the Island's clinic should go when it is approved.
"Do we as Islanders want to plan where this is going to be?" Israel asked.
Some locations that have been posed, he said, are the hospital and the airport near the sheriff's department.
The all-Island selectmen will revisit the issue at their May 9 meeting, Israel said.
Where do you think the Martha's Vineyard medical marijuana dispensary should be located? Tell us in the comments. You may also be interested in
- Pot-Smoking Ban Drafted for Edgartown
- Tell Us: How Would You Feel About Having a Marijuana Dispensary on Martha's Vineyard?
- Tell Us: Should Medical Marijuana Be Legal?
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