Community Corner
Medical Marijuana: Is Martha's Vineyard Ready?
If unchallenged by the Massachusetts Secretary of State, the final rules for medical marijuana clinics go into effect in late May, said the man who hopes to earn the right to dispense medical pot on Martha's Vineyard.
Either Oak Bluffs or Tisbury appears likely to wind up as the home of the Island's first marijuana dispensary, no matter who wins the right to operate it.
Voters in those two towns this month defeated a town meeting article seeking a year-long moratorium on marijuana pharmacies, while Edgartown passed a similar article and will not allow the operations for the next year.
However, medical marijuana patients with valid prescriptions will be able to smoke and/or swallow their pot in Edgartown's public places, but not in Oak Bluffs' or Tisbury's: Edgartown voted down a pot-smoking ban that passed in the other two towns.
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West Tisbury and Aquinnah voters take up their moratorium and smoking ban articles next month, while Chilmark — which has no commercial zoning — remains aloof from the fray.
Towns without a moratorium may not practice "exclusionary zoning" to prevent a clinic from opening, Wallace said.
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A Vineyard pot clinic could open by fall
An Island pot dispensary could become a reality by the end of the summer if the state continues its brisk progress toward fully implementing the voter-approved medical marijuana law, which provides for at least one medical marijuana treatment center in each county.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has closed the public comment period on its draft regulations for medical marijuana facilities.
Postponed from April 19 due to the Boston Marathon bombing manhunt, the state's last public hearing was held the following Monday at DPH headquarters in Boston, said Jordan Wallace, an Oak Bluffs resident who formed the Kingsbury Group Corporation in November with the intention of securing the right to operate a medical marijuana center on Martha's Vineyard.
The DPH is due to release the final regulations to Massacusetts Secretary of State William Galvin May 8 for review before they go into effect May 24.
"They have all sorts of reasons to get this done as quickly as possible," Wallace said.
He has attended several of the state's public meetings on the draft rules over the past few weeks, Wallace continued: "They have input from over 600 people from their listening sessions."
Town officials' involvement sought
Martha's Vineyard municipal officials were not among those he saw at the DPH hearings, Wallace said.
"Not one member of town government was at the meetings I attended," he said. "The Youth Task Force was at one of them."
Wallace, who has been scouting potential dispensary sites in several Island towns, is poised to submit his nonprofit group's application to the state as soon as the rules are in effect.
"We’ll probably provide several different possible locations" in the application, he said.
"I invite all local governments to the decision table to figure out where they would like it," Wallace continued.
"It’s extremely important to to me to work together on this regardless of differences of opinion."
Wallace also invites comments and questions from the public. You can post them here in the comments, and email him at kingsburycorporation@gmail.com
Click "Keep me posted" to get an email when we publish more news about medical marijuana on the Vineyard. You may also be interested in:
- Where Should the Island's Marijuana Shop be Located?
- State Releases Draft Medical Marijuana Regulations
- Medical Marijuana Hearing Resumes in Edgartown
- Edgartown Board Pleads Ignorance on Marijuana Rules
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