Medical marijuana field increasing – and that's fine with almost everyone
Marc and Ellen Rosenfeld of Millis, who lost their mother and brother to cancer, hope to begin a medical marijuana business to help others suffering from chronic illness.
A handful of MetroWest towns are either home to medical marijuana establishments, or could become home to them following the second round of licensing that kicked off at the end of June. As these new businesses get down to the work of producing and dispensing medicinal marijuana products, the general consensus is that they blend in just fine with their corporate neighbors.
Comfortable majorities of local voters supported the 2012 statewide ballot question that legalized medical marijuana; town vote tallies closely reflect the broader 63-percent approval rate.
Most local towns then moved quickly to enact zoning laws that dictate where medical marijuana businesses could operate. That's why most of them are confined to tucked-away industrial parks.
That's been the case in Milford and Franklin, home to two medical marijuana facilities. But a new proposal for Millis, filed under a new round of applications, could bring one closer to public view.
In full view on Route 109?
Marc and Ellen Rosenfeld are two Millis-based developers and attorneys who decided they wanted to branch out from commercial and residential development after the medical marijuana law was passed.
Ellen joked that she and her brother, the children of Huna Rosenfeld, a prominent businessman who developed large portions of retail property in town and built significant housing developments, are two of the last people you would ever find using marijuana recreationally.
But as they investigated medical marijuana as a business, the siblings said they were struck by how it could help people manage the side effects of cancer and other chronic illnesses. Their mother, Hindy Rosenfeld, a Millis selectwoman, and brother, Joel Rosenfeld, a police officer in town, both died of cancer.
“It would have been nice if this was an option,” Marc Rosenfeld said.
The Rosenfelds received a letter of support from the town of Medway in early July concerning their proposal to build a medical marijuana cultivation facility on a part of industrial land owned by their family's business, Rosenfeld Companies, on Route 109. After receiving a letter of support from the town of Millis a few weeks later, they hope to build a retail dispensary on the same stretch of road just a little farther east over the Millis line.
That facility, if built, will be visible from the road and will be the sales site for marijuana grown in Medway. (Medical marijuana businesses in Massachusetts are required to make and sell their own product.)
Letters of support, or at least letters of non-opposition, are vital to medical marijuana dispensary applicants. Without them, said Marc Rosenfeld, a proposal is close to doomed. He recognized that his family's track record probably boded well when they brought their plans to town officials.
“I think it's worth something when we come forward and we have a history here,” Rosenfeld said.
But getting a medical marijuana business up and running has been tough for most first-phase applicants. The new wave of applicants hopes the road will be smoother after the Department of Public Health (DPH) revised the process this year.
“Only time will tell if we're successful and it comes to bear,” Ellen Rosenfeld said. The Rosenfelds have since been invited to submit an application to the DPH for a license to operate a medical marijuana cultivation facility and dispensary.
The new corporate neighbors
Local controversy isn't expected to be a factor. Charles Aspinwall, the Millis town administrator, said he doesn't expect a medical marijuana retail establishment to be received any differently than less-visible cultivation facility proposals have been, or will be, in communities across Massachusetts. “We've had override votes that have passed by one,” he mused. “Here, the majority of people have said they're in favor of the medical dispensing of it and that's the view we're taking.”
Of course, critics exist. In Franklin, home to a large cultivation facility in the Forge Park industrial complex, Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting fielded occasional phone calls from residents when New England Treatment Access (NETA) wanted to come to town. Concerns centered mostly on the security of the building and of vehicles transporting the product, but have been minimal, Nutting said.
“They're a corporate neighbor, at this point,” Nutting said.
One way to woo the neighbors when you're in this business is to offer tours, highlighting security features, said Norton Arbelaez, standards and practices consultant at the NETA site. The cultivation facility makes medicinal products, including edibles, for NETA dispensaries slated to open in Brookline and Northampton. NETA has invited public safety and town officials to see how they keep the operation secure.
The number of jobs the company has brought to town is also looked upon favorably, Arbelaez said. NETA employs about 50 in Franklin, and that will grow to 75 when operations are at full capacity, he said. Eventually, NETA executives would like to join local business groups, such as chambers of commerce.
“We want to be in this community for many years to come and we want to be a good neighbor,” Arbelaez said.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) crafted the guidelines for approving projects and regulating the industry after the ballot question was approved.
Lawyer: Kudos on state regs
Valerio Romano, an attorney who had represented medical marijuana business clients in California, where people are allowed to band together to grow for themselves under a collective model — causing controversy around cultivation practices — said the DPH has been able to quell the potential for that in Massachusetts by issuing the strictest regulations of all the states that have legalized medical marijuana.
“There's a lot of talk about mitigating negative impact but it turns out, in a well-regulated marijuana jurisdiction … (proposals) don't really contribute to negative impact at all,” said Romano, who now practices in Massachusetts and represents the Rosenfelds, as well as a few other medical marijuana licensees .
Recreational use ahead?
Meanwhile, medical marijuana businesses will likely continue to blend in with the corporate landscape as a new round of applicants adds more establishments to the region and beyond, and as public attitudes about marijuana use in general become more relaxed.
While those in the business of providing the drug for medicinal purposes are adamant that medical marijuana is a world unto itself and won't lead to wider legalization for recreational use, it's at least an interesting coincidence that two ballot initiatives have been filed this year seeking to do just that.
But for now, medical marijuana establishments are focusing on launching.
The state's first dispensary just opened in Salem in June. Many attribute a lag in openings to the red tape-laden process first-round applicants faced. But the Salem dispensary will soon have company. According to Milford Town Administrator Richard Villani, a dispensary and cultivation facility in town, Milford Medicinals, is slated to open in early 2016. The business will operate in an office park on Commercial Way.
“We expect them to be an addition to the town (business mix),” Villani said.
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