Wicked Local’s Trevor Jones has a story about a city group that is working on criteria for medical marijuana dispensaries in Newton.
“We don’t think every place in Newton is equally suitable to house something like this, and that’s true of most businesses,” said [public health commissioner Dori] Zaleznik.
What should the criteria be?
For once, can we just not have fear drive this discussion.
This is a joke. Just legalized recreational use of marijuana by another name.
For medical purposes, I can support this, but I also feel that the key constituents could be extracted or synthesized, thus eliminating the need to use it like people do for recreation.
If this is really “medical”, shouldn’t there be controlled sources of the product, with FDA supervision?
Shouldn’t there be a clear understanding of the chemical content of the product, since from what I’ve seen there are many grades of marijuana with differing amounts of key constituents?
Shouldn’t the illnesses for which this is allowed be clearly delineated, or can a “physician” prescribe it at will for any reason he chooses.
Shouldn’t a physician not only prescribe this, but also prescribe the dosage, if it can be defined, and the length of time that the prescription is valid?
Shouldn’t the patient be required to see a physician after some period of time to be sure the marijuana is still medically needed?
Shouldn’t it be sold in a pharmacy if it requires a prescription?
All the people who are filing to be dispensaries know this is a joke and that they will make a ton of money selling to people who just want to have fun. I know that many people don’t mind this, but it’s not in the spirit of so-called “medical marijuana”.
Quoting from the article, “The state Attorney General’s Office has ruled that municipalities can’t completely reject a dispensary, though they could institute temporary moratoriums to further review their options.”
As a practical matter, can’t a municipality “reject” a dispensary simply be using the moratorium as a delay tactic? Once the 35 have been chosen [only 5 of which can be in Middlesex County], wouldn’t we have greatly diminished the likelihood of a dispensary for here for quite some time?
Barry –
Obviously you know that many people think that marijuana is more harmless than you think it is. And you are probably right that many think of medical marijuana as a step toward legalization. But that doesn’t negate the true benefits of medical marijuana.
I can’t speak to your questions because I haven’t followed the issue that closely, but I can give you the usual anecdotes about how medical marijuana has improved people’s lives. I can also tell you about people who have been on anti-anxiety medication for years, whose doctors keep refilling their prescriptions with no end in sight. I see absolutely no difference.
Signage and advertizing would be my principle concern. I don’t suppose we’d have any say on what happens in that regard?
Whatever the zoning rule are for alcohol maybe? Does that make sense?
There are extremely elaborate state regulations for these dispensaries and access to the prescriptions that allow them to be used. Alcohol is not regulated principally through zoning but the separate licensing board process. We will have to balance the possible adverse effects of a dispensary such as increased traffic with the need to make it reasonably acessible to prescription holders. The Police, Law, Planning and Board of Aldermen are all represented on the Committee working on this topic.
Alderman Brian Yates