Medical marijuana

Just in from the state Attorney General's office.

Via Valerie Vande Panne.

Cannamed, a California company that runs medical marijuana dispensaries there, is looking to hire doctors for a Framingham dispensary:

GREAT INCOME POTENTIAL!!!

Of course, they might have to wait until May, when the state is scheduled to release its regulations on operating dispensaries. Then there's the issue of landlords booting them when they find out just what it is they do.

Jonathan Napoli told a City Council committee yesterday he wants to add a medical-marijuana dispensary to the hydroponics store he runs in Dudley Square.

That's good news for Councilor Bill Linehan, who says he's worried the city would try to pack all five Suffolk County dispensaries into his South Boston/South End district. But not everybody in Dudley Square is thrilled by the idea.

"Is Dispensary how we want Dudley defined?" Kaidi Grant asks this morning. "Dudley doesn't need to be known as the Weed District," she says, adding that Napoli's assertion that a dispensary would bring economic vitality to the square can be countered by other efforts to improve the area - such as the city's reconstruction of the old Ferdinand building into BPS headquarters. "Dudley needs positive branding to rebuild for the future."

City councilors this morning began a formal discussion on how to allow the medical-marijuana dispensaries approved by voters last month while letting neighborhoods have a say on specific locations.

The law approved by voters would allow up to five dispensaries in a county.

City Councilor Bill Linehan, who represents South Boston and the South End, said he understands the need for medical marijuana and that he understands medical-marijuana use doesn't lead to substance abuse, but said his district already suffers crime and other problems from methadone clinics - and already has more than its fair share of other medical facilities:

Richard Vetstein reports a number of communities are exploring their options for keeping pot purveyors out now that voters have approved that ballot question that calls for up to 35 of the dispensaries.

The legal issues surrounding municipal zoning and siting of medical marijuana dispensaries will likely follow similar cases involving methadone clinics, alcohol treatment centers/sober houses and even adult entertainment venues — all uses which are legal, yet subject to fairly strict zoning governance. Additionally, treatment centers could seek protection from the Americans With Disabilities Act and other disability laws which protect cancer, HIV, glaucoma and other qualified patients who are entitled to receive medical marijuana.