As the town awaits for a decision from the state, Brookline is buzzing about the possibility of a medical marijuana dispensary opening up.
Twenty states, including Massachusetts, have legalized medical marijuana, according to nonprofit public charity ProCon.org. Last year, the question of legalizing medical marijuana appeared on the ballot for Brookline and the rest of Massachusetts.
“In Brookline, over 70 percent of the voters said they wanted medical marijuana in Massachusetts,” Brookline’s Director of Health and Human Services Alan Balsam said. “So Brookline clearly came out in favor of it.”
According to Balsam, the dispensary has to be a cash only business. Only local and state governments have been passing medical marijuana laws and regulations. It is still illegal in the federal government, and banks do not want to get involved.
“Theoretically, the federal government could prosecute,” Brookline Selectman Richard Benka said. “What has happened in practice is that the federal government has not prosecuted in situations where there has been reasonable local control, but federal government could always prosecute.”
Two companies have applied to the state to open in Brookline. When the law was passed, it was decided that states will have no more than five dispensaries per county and no more than 35 in the state.
“We will wait and see at the end of January when the state health department will make a determination which of those ten [that are being considered for Norfolk County] will be allowed to open a dispensary,” Balsam said, “and if any of the two that applied here will get the nod.”
Junior Martin Weissgerber said he would like to know more about the provisions on marijuana from the dispensary.
“I really don’t know too much,” Weissgerber said. “I’ve just heard about it from friends. I’d really like to know about what the requirements are for partaking in the process. I have no idea what it’s like compared to dispensaries in California and Colorado, which seem to be pretty common.”
To be eligible for medical marijuana in Brookline, patients will have to talk to their doctors or physicians, with whom they must have a “genuine relationship,” about whether they will benefit from the use of medical marijuana, according to Balsam.
“It would have to be a debilitating medical condition,” Balsam said. “There are a number of conditions that are explicitly listed as conditions that may benefit from medical marijuana.”
These conditions include HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease or a form of posttraumatic stress disorder. However, physicians or doctors may prescribe medical marijuana for a more general condition if they feel the patient would benefit from it, according to Balsam.
If a dispensary opens up, there will be a variety of ways that people will be able to take medical marijuana and buy it from the dispensary.
“At that point, you will get the marijuana and you will be able to use it–either smoke it or there will be a way that you can vaporize it or take it in an oil form,” Balsam said. “Or you can apply it topically for pain, or you can eat it if it’s in a food. So there will be a number of different ways that you will be able to administer the medical marijuana.”
Kevin Fisher, president of New England Treatment Access, hopes that his company will be able to open a dispensary in the Brookline area due to its proximity to Longwood Medical Area. Fisher said they are looking at an area in Coolidge Corner.
Weissgerber said he believes the medical marijuana dispensary will not affect the students in a negative way.
“I don’t think it will affect BHS too much,” Weissgerber said. “I know kids will find ways to smoke the weed the dispensary provides. I think that’s good because a lot of the weed around New England can be unsafe. We don’t really know. So with a dispensary providing legitimate and clean weed it’ll be good for smokers.”
Substance Abuse Social Worker Hope Schroy had little to say about the possibility of a medical marijuana dispensary affecting the school community. Only after it opens can opinions be better formed, she said.
“Until it opens, I don’t know how it will pan out,” Schroy said. “Of course I’m worried, but I just don’t know how they will monitor it.”
Alua Noyan can be contacted at [email protected]
Infographic created and designed by Eoin Walsh.
Correction: A caption in the print version of this article incorrectly stated that the state made marijuana legal in Nov. of 2012. Marijuana is not, in fact, legal in Massachusetts, only decriminalized.
