State Releases Draft Medical Marijuana Regulations

Jordan Wallace of Oak Bluffs was finishing an in-depth interview with Patch at Edgartown Meat and Fish Friday afternoon when word came from the state that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has issued its long-awaited draft regulations on how medical marijuana may be dispensed under the voter-approved Act for Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana.

Read the proposed medical marijuana regulations here. 

The timing could hardly be tighter for Wallace, who wants to open a medical marijuana clinic on Martha's Vineyard.

He goes before the Edgartown Planning Board Tuesday in a bid to pull a year-long moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries from the town meeting warrant.

"A year-long moratorium is really inappropriate," Wallace told Patch. 

"It's inevitable that some people who need this medicine now will be deceased" before they can get it in a safe and legal way, he said.

According to a memo from the state Department of Public Health,

• The public comment period will run from March 29 through April 20. 
• On April 19, 2013 DPH will hold three public hearings in Plymouth, Boston, and Northampton to receive further comment on the proposed regulations. 
• Following the comment period, Department staff will return to the Council on May 8, 2013 to provide a review of the testimony, to present any changes proposed in response to the testimony, and to request approval for promulgation of the regulation. 

Wallace said he was inspired by the fact that 74 percent of Island voters approved the initiative last November. Within days of the election, Wallace's non-profit Kingsbury Group Corporation submitted what he said was the state's first application for a medical marijuana dispensary.

The months since have been busy ones for Wallace, with community and municipal meetings, corporate duties, lawyer conferences and research. He's also been scoping out locations in each of the Island's towns.

"I could sign any one of six leases tomorrow," he said, once the regulations are finalized and if local authorities permit.

We'll have more from our interview with Wallace soon. Click "Keep me posted" for automatic notification when we publish more news about medical marijuana.

Wallace said he's looking at an autumn opening date if he wins the right to be an Island dispenser.

What questions do you have for Jordan Wallace, prospective dispensary operator? Tell us in the comments.

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