SALEM — Alternative Therapies, the Newburyport-based nonprofit planning to open a marijuana dispensary in Salem, is still a go.
The Department of Public Health announced yesterday that nearly half of the applicants it had initially approved to open medical marijuana dispensaries across the state would actually be barred from doing so, after a verification process found problems with their applications.
But Alternative Therapies, the dispensary that intends to open on Grove Street by early next year, was not one of them. Alternative Therapies processing and cultivation center will be located on South Hunt Road in Amesbury.
“We’re happy with the results,” said company president Chris Edwards. “We’re eager to move forward with our business plan.”
Nine of the 20 applicants the state originally gave the go-ahead to ended up being eliminated during the verification phase, which was instituted after several groups allegedly misrepresented themselves or their local support. Among them was Green Heart Holistic Health and Pharmaceuticals in Boston, which was set to have its cultivation center at 10 Industrial Way in Amesbury.
Neighbors of their proposed dispensary on Southampton Street in Boston also complained about the facility, pointing out that there are already several methadone clinics in the area.
According to its initial filing, the company planned to spend $2.3 million preparing its 30,000-square-foot Amesbury facility and its dispensaries in Boston, with $1.25 million spent directly on a “build out” for the Amesbury site. It had a five-year lease for the Amesbury property, paying $164,000 per year to the owner, RRAB Limited Partnership.
The verifications were performed by an investigative firm and included individual and corporate background checks, interviews and verification of local letters of support submitted by or on behalf of the applicants.
Healthy Pharms in Haverhill, Essex County’s other dispensary, also successfully cleared the state check.
Marijuana dispensary cleared by state
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