Steve Sailing, who suffers from ALS, awaits his chance to testify before the Boston City Council during a meeting at Boston City Hall Tuesday on the proposed medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.
Credit: Nicolaus Czarnecki, Metro
After hearing concerns about its proposed location in the Back Bay, a medical marijuana company said on Tuesday that it is in negotiations for a new location.
The comments from officials at Good Chemistry of Massachusetts were made during a Boston City Council hearing to address questions and concerns about medical marijuana dispensaries planning to locate in the city.
City councilors said they are concerned about the locations and security aspects of the potential facilities and quizzed city officials and the owners of the dispensaries.
“This is a matter that needs to be vetted in a public way,” said Council President Bill Linehan.
In 2012, voters approved of a ballot measure to legalize medial marijuana. In January, the Department of Public Health issued provisional licenses for 20 medical marijuana dispensaries, two of them to be located in Boston.
One would be located on Boylston Street near the Arlington MBTA station. The other would be located near Boston Medical Center on Southampton Street, adjacent to a drug treatment facility.
A lawyer for Good Chemistry, a Denver-based company, said they are aware of the concerns of their potential Boylston Street location and are in negotiations over a second site.
Jamie Lewis, the chief operating officer of Good Chemistry, was asked by Linehan about the operation of a typical store in Denver.
Lewis said the stores there are open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., which is when they are regulated to close. The store has about seven employees working at the store at any given time and that it serves between 50 and 60 people daily.
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