City Uncertain Applicants Plan to Open Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Melrose

By Mark Ouellette

Forty-seven applications may have been recently submitted for medical marijuana dispensaries in Middlesex County, but the city is uncertain whether any of the applicants intend to open dispensaries in Melrose.

"...We do not have that information," said Ruth Clay, health director for Melrose, Reading and Wakefield, in am email to Melrose Patch. "The City of Melrose, Town of Wakefield, and Reading all are in process of implementing a moratorium on the siting of any dispensaries until June, 2014."

According to Clay, the Department of Public Health stated that "In Phase 1 we have not asked applicants to commit to specific communities in which they will or may want to operate. Rather, we have asked for applicants to identify their county or counties of preference or communities of interest. We won’t know until Phase 2 where each entity intends to operate."
Original Report by Ryan Grannan-Doll

Forty-seven applications have been submitted for medical marijuana dispensaries in Middlesex County, but, at the moment, there is no word on the communities that would host them.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health released the list of applications on Friday, which also include applications for the state’s other counties. In total, 181 applications were submitted.

Barnstable and Bristol counties each received nine applications, Berkshire County received three, Dukes County got four, Essex County received 16, Franklin County got seven, Hampden County got 13 and Hampshire County got five. Nantucket County received two applications, Norfolk County got 12, Plymouth County got 19, Suffolk County got 21 and Worcester County received 14.
See the full list.

In September, the DPH will specify which applicants will move to the final phase of the application process, according to WBUR. The DPH has said it could approve up to 35 dispensaries statewide by January. State law prohibits more than five per county.

The developments come amidst some communities placing moratoriums on medical marijuana shops or altering zoning regulations to control where they are located.