Marijuana group details dispensary plans
The nonprofit organization that will run at least half of the state's medical marijuana dispensaries has released more details on where and how those dispensaries could be located.
On Friday, the state awarded Northeast Patients Group licenses to operate dispensaries in four of the state's eight districts encompassing Cumberland County, four midcoast counties, and central and eastern Maine. The group, which has ties to California-based Berkeley Patients Group, is proposing to operate the Cumberland County dispensary at 959 Congress St. in Portland, the site of a former bank, which is close to other health care facilities and has security infrastructure, according to a press release from the group. Northeast Patients Group must complete negotiations to lease part of the building, which is also home to Mercy Hospital's diabetes center, according to the Portland Press Herald. The city's planning board Tuesday will consider a zoning change to allow a marijuana dispensary, and a council vote could happen as early as July 19.
The organization has also selected a tentative dispensary location at 153 New County Road in Thomaston, according to the Herald Gazette. Rebecca DeKeuster, the organization's CEO, told the Kennebec Journal that the group is considering two sites in central Maine as possible dispensary locations -- a former Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant at 13 Water St. in Waterville and a vacant building at 10 Middle Road in Augusta.
The group's plans to site a marijuana growing center in Hermon hit a snag last week, however, after the town council enacted a 180-day emergency moratorium, citing public concern over the impact of an indoor marijuana growing facility, according to the Bangor Daily News. Northeast Patients has negotiated an agreement to lease up to 30,000 square feet of warehouse space from Dysart's Service Inc. The organization plans to locate a storefront dispensary in Bangor, which previously enacted a moratorium that expires in October.
The group plans to begin serving patients in November, according to the release.
The state on Friday also awarded licenses to two groups to operate dispensaries in northern and western Maine, but no applicants in York County and Down East Maine met the minimum criteria. A second application round for those two districts closes Aug. 20.
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