State public health officials awarded the first 20 licenses to operate medical marijuana dispensaries. Six of them will be located in Greater Boston.
Massachusetts officials expect as many as 130,000 people — or 2 percent of the population of the state — to use medical marijuana. The dispensaries are slated to start opening this summer.
Republicans have complained about the appearance of political favoritism because three of the 20 licenses went to a company headed by former U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt.
Walpole Deputy Police Chief John Carmichael was on the selection committee and says politics didn’t have anything to do with it.
“We continued to focus only on the application itself, and the strength of the application," Carmichael said. Was the applicant ready? Were they qualified?”
Dispensaries still have several steps to complete before they can open. They must get construction permits to build marijuana growing facilities. Under the law, all the marijuana must be grown in Massachusetts.
Also today, state officials said they would maintain a registry of medical marijuana patients and their doctors, which can be accessed by law enforcement.
