Selectmen Vote to Send Letter of Approval to State For Medical Marijuana Dispensary

A Worcester company is interested in opening a medical marijuana dispensary in Burlington, and the Board of Selectmen voted on Monday night to send a letter of support to state officials.

Mission Massachusetts is awaiting approval, and a license, from the state.

Town Adminstrator John Petrin said that the Board of Selectmen has received positive and negative feedback on the issue of a medical marijuana dispensary in town.

State voters approved support of medical medical marijuana in Massachusetts. Burlington Town Meeting also voted unanimously in 2013 to approve medical marijuana dispensaries in town.

“Some people are for it,” Mr. Petrin said, though there are still people against it.

Mission Massachusetts agreed to give $20,000 in donations to Burlington organizations and to give the town 3 percent of gross annual sales with a minimum of $250,000 per year starting in the third year of operation, according to Rich Hosford, Burlington Cable Access Television.

On Monday night the board did make such a vote. It voted 4-1 to send a letter of approval and 5-0 to accept the community benefit agreement.

Mission Massachusetts, which is a partnership between Forefront Ventures and the Winnmill Group, talked to town officials in July about opening one of three new medical marijuana dispensaries in Burlington, a report stated. The Burlington facility would only dispense medical marijuana; it would not be grown there, the report stated. Growing would be done in Worcester, according to a report presented to selectmen in July.

Town officials can’t stop companies from opening dispensaries in Burlington so long as they comply with state regulations and Burlington’s local medical marijuana bylaws, which are more restrictive than Massachusetts’s requirements.