BOSTON (Reuters)
— Massachusetts has
licensed 20 dispensaries to start growing and selling marijuana for
medical use, the Department of Health said on Friday in the latest
U.S. step to boost access to the widely outlawed drug.
Massachusetts is among 20 states in the country that
have passed laws allowing people to use marijuana as a medical
treatment. Most of those states, like Massachusetts, are still
setting up distribution networks.
State regulators received 100 applications to open dispensaries
under a 2012 medical marijuana law, and were permitted to give out
as many as 35 licenses.
A state Department of Health official was not immediately available
to comment on why only 20 licenses were granted, though the
department's website said eight of the rejected applicants had been
invited to reapply with a different proposed location.
Under the Massachusetts law, authorized dispensaries are permitted
to grow and sell marijuana but must be run as nonprofit
organizations. The approved dispensaries are located in 10 of
Massachusetts' 14 counties.
The department said it evaluated applications based on the
appropriateness of the site, local support, and the applicant's
ability to meet the needs of patients while ensuring public safety.
The Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-marijuana lobbying group based
in Colorado, said the move to license dispensaries in Massachusetts
would help prevent personal growing and black market buying by
medical users.
"This is in line with what every other medical marijuana state is
doing, but we are disappointed by the low number of licenses
granted," said Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies at MPP.
"People shouldn't have to grow their medicine or buy it
underground."
O'Keefe said more competition also lowers prices, citing Colorado
where a high concentration of dispensaries has helped cut marijuana
prices in half.
Marijuana can be been used to reduce nausea and vomiting for cancer
patients undergoing chemotherapy and is also used to treat pain.
Colorado and Washington are the only two states that have legalized
marijuana for recreational use.
