Published in the August 10, 2016 edition

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — A company is looking to bring a medical marijuana dispensary to the old Crystal Motor Express site on Kimball Lane.

In an interview with the Villager last week, Town Administrator Jim Boudreau said Nature’s Remedy of Massachusetts Inc. has expressed interest in establishing a medical marijuana dispensary in town.

Boudreau said he attended a preliminary meeting on Aug. 4 along with Police Chief David Breen and Nature’s Remedy representatives, including company president Robert C. Carr Jr., to discuss the company’s proposal. Breen said Wakefield Town Administrator Steve Maio and Wakefield Police Chief Rick Smith attended the meeting as well because the dispensary would be located on the Lynnfield-Wakefield town line.

“It was a preliminary meeting,” said Boudreau. “We had a preliminary discussion about security issues, how the marijuana would be secured and how the marijuana would be transported.”

Breen said he is conducting research about Nature’s Remedy. He said he will be reaching out to area police chiefs, including Georgetown Police Chief Donald Cudmore, to discuss how medical marijuana dispensaries have impacted communities that have or will be opening marijuana treatment centers. The Georgetown Board of Selectmen signed off on Healthy Pharms’ request to open a medical marijuana dispensary in June 2015.

“I am trying to gather as much information as I can,” said Breen. “We need to determine what this will mean for the town and there are a lot of questions that need to be asked. I know traffic will be an issue.”

Rick Smith, the Wakefield police chief, said he recently toured a medical marijuana dispensary and grow facility in Colorado.

“It was quite an operation,” he explained. “I was blown away with what’s involved in it. …You need to have a huge infusion of cash to get something like this going.”

Wakefield’s top law enforcer also said the worlds of medical marijuana and recreational marijuana use really don’t have much concern with keeping the people who ingest it safe.

“This is all about cash. The whole industry is fiscally driven,” Smith said.

Smith said Wakefield’s concerns include traffic, noise, loitering and whether those with medical marijuana cards will be able to ingest marijuana at the Kimball Lane site and then drive away, impaired.

Massachusetts voters, including Lynnfield voters, voted to legalize medical marijuana in November 2012. In that election, 3,798 Lynnfield voters favored the ballot question legalizing medical marijuana while 3,170 residents voted against it. Massachusetts is one of 25 states that has legalized medical marijuana. Washington D.C. has legalized medical marijuana as well.

Town Meeting voters amended the town’s zoning bylaws to incorporate medical marijuana treatment center regulations in April 2014. According to section 8.7.2.5 of the zoning bylaws, “any and all cultivation, production, storage, display, sales or other distribution of marijuana” shall be located “only within the restricted area of a registered marijuana dispensary and shall not be visible from the exterior of the business.” Kimball Lane is that restricted area.

According to Boudreau, Nature’s Remedy’s proposed medical marijuana dispensary would only be selling marijuana, not growing it. It is proposed to be 2,500 square feet, he said.

Boudreau said Nature’s Remedy wants to discuss its proposal with the Board of Selectmen next month.

“The company will need a letter of non-opposition or a letter of support,” said Boudreau. “It will be up to the board to decide if this is the type of business they want in town.”

Board of Selectmen Chairman Phil Crawford agreed.

“It’s all preliminary at this point,” Crawford said in an interview with the Villager. “The chief is going to talk to a couple of towns that have opened these dispensaries to see what the history has been. It’s going to create a traffic issue and we don’t know what kind of safety issue it’s going to impose.”

Boudreau said if the selectmen sign off on the letter of non-opposition for the dispensary, Nature’s Remedy would then need to seek a special permit from the Planning Board in order to open it.

According to an article in The Lowell Sun, Nature’s Remedy was one of two medical marijuana companies eyeing a Westford location for a dispensary. However, Westford selectmen were hesitant to award a letter of non-opposition to either of the two registered medical marijuana dispensaries. The companies subsequently withdrew their applications.

Crawford said the selectmen have yet to finalize the date of Nature’s Remedy’s presentation to the board in September.

“We want to get as much information about the process and we have to do our due diligence,” said Crawford.

 

Recreational marijuana ballot question

Last week’s revelation that Nature’s Remedy hopes to open a medical marijuana dispensary in town comes just four months before voters will be asked to approve Question 4 on the November ballot, which would legalize marijuana for recreational purposes.

Question 4 would allow people 21 or older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana for recreational use and impose a 3.75 percent excise tax on retail marijuana sales, on top of the state’s current 6.25 percent sales tax.

Breen said both he and Superintendent of Schools Jane Tremblay are working to bring Dr. Ruth Potee, an addiction expert, to town to give a presentation about substance abuse in October. He said Dr. Potee’s presentation would focus on the state’s opioid crisis as well as the issues that have resulted from marijuana legalization in Colorado. Breen said he saw Dr. Potee give a presentation during a school resource officers’ conference recently.

“We think she would be a great person to speak to parents and students,” Breen said.

The marijuana legalization effort still faces formidable opposition from top elected officials, including Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, also a Democrat. Reasons cited by opponents include the state’s opioid addiction crisis and the possibility of marijuana being a “gateway drug.”

Supporters of Question 4, including The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Massachusetts and former governor and Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate Bill Weld, argue regulating marijuana will replace a dangerous underground market and will generate tax revenue.

Breen said he hopes residents will educate themselves about Question 4 before casting their ballots.

“I hope people will make an informed decision,” said Breen. “There are a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions about this particular ballot referendum. I have talked to a lot of parents and I don’t think people understand what this would mean for Massachusetts. I hope people understand exactly what it means and then cast their vote.”

Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska have previously legalized recreational marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law.

— Editor Bob Burgess and The Associated Press contributed to this report.