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Downtown medical-marijuana dispensary might be considering recreational pot sales

Patriot Care, which opened Boston's first medical dispensary at 21 Milk St., is looking for input on possible plans to add recreational marijuana offerings, even though it promised residents and city officials that's not something it wanted to do when it won approval for the dispensary in 2015.

The company, a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Columbia Care, holds an "outreach hearing" on the idea at 6 p.m. on March 28 in the Metro Meeting Center on the fourth floor of 101 Federal St. downtown.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend to hear the presentation of the applicant and those in attendance shall be permitted to ask questions related to their co-location of an adult use marijuana establishment at this location.

Patriot Care today declined comment, referring a reporter to the state Department of Public Health, which does not regulate recreational marijuana facilities. The state Cannabis Control Commission only recently finalized its regulations for pot shops, and says it is not taking applications from companies that already run dispensaries until April 2.

Patriot Care filed a hearing notice with the Boston City Clerk's office earlier this month; it was posted on March 14.

At the time Patriot Care was applying for city zoning permission in 2015, recreational marijuana sales were still illegal, but city officials had begun planning for possible passage of a referendum legalizing sales in the 2016 elections. Voters approved the measure, which created a commission to oversee licensing and sales.

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Comments

It sounded odd at first, but I guess they want to check in with neighbors & potential customers before deciding to petition the city for expanded approval.

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The mayor and other government officials told us dispensaries would bad for the community. They said dispensaries would attract a "bad element" to hang out in the area and ruin the neighborhood. Patients leaving the facilities would be subjected to robberies and be victims or perpetrators of other crimes. Worst of all, the dispensaries would cause children to hear about marijuana for the first time, which would immediately cause them to become addicted to heroin.

So yes, the public needs to hear about how many of those predictions have come true.

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I hope this ruins Chris Kimball's business on Milk St.

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Why?

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Among other things, he helped himself to the goodwill associated with longstanding and upstanding local business Milk Street Cafe by appropriating their name; given his deeper pockets and larger litigation budget they were not able to fight it successfully.

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When they opened the first Medical marijuana dispensary in Downtown Boston they made it explicitly clear. They would NEVER sell Recreational Marijuana. OK now they're seeing $$ signs & want to expand.

My only issue is how many permits will be issued in Boston proper? If the answer is one then no, not them. They don't deserve preferential treatment just because they got in first. They don't deserve to be rewarded after assuring the public they wouldn't do this. Finally, there are local growers, local entrepreneurs & small businesses that should be given this lucrative opportunity as well.

https://media.giphy.com/media/XdBVUzXff2t1e/giphy.gif

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"We shouldn't allow them to do this now because we were too gullible to believe them when they said they wouldn't over three years ago.", we should be asking the residents and city officials who are so opposed to the requested expansion to give the public LEGITIMATE reasons as to a) why this BUSINESS should be denied the right to expand and b) why the number of people who want to enter into this business be needlessley restricted in doing so by placing an arbitrary limit on the number of "permits" the City decides to issue.

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Despite your unnecessary Snark, I agree with you.
Great comment!

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They could never have opened if they hadn't said they would never sell recreational marijuana. I regard that as a little white lie; in not too long, most such objections will evaporate, and it will look very silly in retrospect.

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Patriot Care are scum. They’re some ex-Goldman guys who are as sleazy as they come. Mahty the drunk was dead set against dispensaries in Boston. Then the Patriot Care guys come along and they find a scumbag low rent lobbyist named Dan Delaney who, after a stint at the DPH, at the time the people who made decisions about dispensaries, somehow helps Mahty “modify” his position on weed.

So, to do that, Patriot Care declared they would never go rec, and thanks to the scummy ministrations of our pal Dan, Patriot Care has and still has the only dispensary in Boston. Now that they see the rec market about to explode and one has to wonder how much that piece of shit Delaney will be making hanging around the Hall.

Or am I wrong? Two dispensaries controlled the Boston market for some time and they both pay a shitload of money to lobbyists: NETA, which even though it's technically in Brookline served all of JP and Roxbury and Patriot Care. Also, NETA had a scandal recently regarding tainted weed that somehow escaped the scrutiny it deserved, in my opinion due to the lobbyists they pay more than any other dispensary, 180k last year if I’m not mistaken.

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And don't forget, all these guys are white. No one POC involved in any part of this operation. Screw them.

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Screw whitey!

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It's big biz. They are liars. They cornered the market. It's. Bullshit.

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What’s bullshit?

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That they suck.

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What makes them not suck, given the reasons I cited?

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Mahty the drunk

Really? What's this about, Brian?

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He is an admitted alcoholic, is he not?

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"Recovering alcoholic." You know, someone who has experienced an addiction to a substance and is trying to overcome the addiction.

But I'm sure that if you or if anyone you knew had an issue with addiction to anything, you'd be okay with others mocking them for it.

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... who self-describe as "dry drunks", but that's for them to call themselves, not for us to call them.

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In my experience, that is a term used for a person who has merely replaced their chemical dependencies with some all-consuming non-drug enthusiasm - usually religion.

I've heard it used as a pejorative by friends in recovery, as in "Will you look at Marc? Isn't he the perfect little dry drunk these days with all his Jeeeesuuus talk. sheesh!"

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Cocaine and opioid addict. I am also not the one who lets the media write that I take people to rehab anonymously and then host beer gardens. I also would never make it as hard for sick people to get their medicine as that piece of shit hypocrite has.

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Society was much better when addiction and one's attempts to overcome it were best not mentioned at all. How dare he note that he once was a wreck due to alcohol and then tried to turn his life around. How dare he attempt to reconcile his demons with the idea that people in general can drink without it consuming their lives. We should be constantly mocking him for admitting his drinking problems. Good job, Riccio.

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Yes, things were SO much better when addiction was in the shadows and those affected lived with their own individual shame.

Also, your little tangent seemed to not address one thing while you were jerking yourself off: Walsh’s blatant hypocrisy.

Now I have to ask: how old are you anyway? 12?

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Only 2 in Boston b/c of the pearl clutching NIMBY's who are fine with their habits of tobacco, bars and packies. But if your habit is a plant then they start quoting "Refer Madness."

West Rox is a prime example. It was a big deal to have a medical dispensary come in but they were completely against recreational. Then they wanted ot change their minds and say recreational was ok...maybe they did some research on how much $ would have been made in taxes.

I am all for 100% legalization...but they need to let every person that is in jail for marijuana possession/ distribution out of jail.

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As a patient of Patriot Care, my biggest concern is how I am going to continue to get my medication from there? Its my go to spot and I plan on renewing my card in August when it's due. I get many benefits from the medical use of MMJ so it's important to me.

But I am concerned about these RMD's going public.

What is going to happen come July 1?

Am I going to have to wait in long line to get medication because I will be standing with people who are there to buy it legally? Will I have a special line to avoid this?

Am I going to get the medication I want, when I want? Or is everything going to be 'sold out' because you've sold it all to non medical customers or will have a separate menu of protected items I can buy?

If I will be group'd with non medical buyers, I won't go there and I will be forced to go elsewhere (a small # of RMD's are not going legal come July 1)

I also question the location. I'm all for legal pot, but this location is meh. Not so much that it is in DTX, but it is inside an office building (off their lobby). They have a guard there, I am not sure how this will bode with that office building. If the want legal retail, they should move to a new location.

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On McLellan Highway in one of the old rental car places. Go there when it’s open or the wonderful people at Revolutionary Clinics now delivers to Boston. Better place all around than Patriot Care.

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PC isn't my ONLY place. It's just the most convenient since I work in Fort Point.

I rotate between several of them, as product menu changes daily so I go where I see stuff I want.

Oh they deliver now? But I live in Chelsea most won't deliver there and McLellan is too far for me (no T access).

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talk to the folks at Revolutionary Clinics--they are super nice people. They recently added Everett to the delivery zone after I asked, and they are expanding their coverage map. Stopping by may be your best bet to get them to start in Chelsea.

as a patient at Patriot Care, NETA, SIRA, and others, I would think we'd follow in Colorado footsteps--separate areas and strains for medical v. recreational. And the location on Milk Street is fine; I doubt there are going to be thousands of office workers descending on the place at 5. And if they do, I'd rather have everyone high than drunk, and I work in the liquor industry!

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You can read exactly what is going to happen here:

https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/03/27/935cmr500.pdf

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From a business perspective it makes sense too.

The money to be made is going to be immense, especially if the medical dispensaries are the only ones selling recreational come June (July?)

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