BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston’s first medical marijuana dispensary sits in the bustle of Downtown Crossing, but you could walk by and not even realize it’s there. “That was one of the requirements of the approval of the city,” says Patriot Care CEO Bob Mayerson. “That there be no large signage outside.”
Patients will present their state issued medical marijuana card and another form of identification before being let into the dispensary. The facility has the look and feel of a doctor’s office, with very little marijuana on display. “We are healthcare company and see ourselves as a medical company,” says Mayerson. “All of the marijuana will be kept behind the counter in cabinets and drawers.”
Patriot Care was first awarded a license to operate a dispensary in Boston in November of 2014. They faced opposition from the neighborhood and demands from city leaders, including a requirement that they deliver marijunana to any patient who says they cannot get to the dispensary. Patriot Care’s CEO says they are prepared to bring marijuana to a patient’s home as early as tomorrow. When they do, it will be the first time a dispensary in Massachusetts does a house call. “We have everything that’s been approved by DPH and we are all set up to go. We have the vehicle that has passed their inspections and is fully operational for what we need,” says Mayerson. He adds that DPH requires the company to have two people in a delivery vehicle.
Patriot Care is a subsidiary of Columbia Care, a national medical marijuana company which currently operates dispensaries in four states, including Massachusetts. In February, Patriot Care opened a dispensary in Lowell. Their cultivation facility where they grow all of the marijuana they sell to patients is also in Lowell. The company plans to open a third dispensary in Greenfield later this year.
The dispensary at 21 Milk Street opens Wednesday at 1 p.m.
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