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The deadline is nearing for applications to run the state's fourth medical marijuana dispensary. If the process goes anything like the first three, it will be something like this:
- It will be long, detailed and not for the faint of heart or the cash poor. Unique issues will arise because dispensaries are in an odd business of legally selling something that is otherwise illegal.
- Though the applicants have to file detailed information about who they are, how they plan to run a dispensary and where they are getting their money, state officials will tell us all very little about any of it, ostensibly to protect patient confidentiality but also because it seems to give them the jitters, what with marijuana being otherwise illegal.
- If and when the dispensary finally opens, it will generate little attention. Just about the only complaints will be that the marijuana is not covered by medical insurance.
In the two months since Shayne Lynn started operating the Champlain Valley Dispensary, he's learned a lot, attracted more customers than he expected and had no interactions with the local police, he said.
Burlington Police Chief Mike Schirling, who had been worried about having a dispensary in the city, said Monday, "I'm not aware of any issues."
Lindsay Wells, the state's marijuana program administrator, said the state has received few complaints about the first dispensaries, and only from patients with concerns about access, not from the general public.
"Some patients didn't realize it's not covered by insurance," Wells said. Others registered complaints about not being able to reach a dispensary, but those issues have been resolved, she said.
Lynn thought he'd have about 75 clients by now. He has 175. "People had been waiting for this," he said. "We didn't realize how anxious people are to have this. People say, 'My God, this is such a relief.'"
The Champlain Valley Dispensary operates from an unmarked office near Burlington's Waterfront. Lynn is not allowed by the state to reveal its location, a fact that he said has been both good and bad as customers, who make appointments via telephone or the Internet. Some customers initially have had a hard time finding the dispensary, but there have also been no security issues.
Dispensaries are allowed to sell various forms of marijuana for medical use by appointment to Vermonters with qualifying conditions who have signed up for the state's medical marijuana registry and designated a dispensary. Dispensaries opened in Burlington and Montpelier in June. A third dispensary is due to open soon in Brandon. Those all came out of the first application process last year and took a year or more to come to fruition.
The state has one more opening for a medical marijuana dispensary and is accepting applications through Sept. 3, as the law allows a total of four statewide. Wells said she's heard from several people interested in applying and expects applications will come in at the deadline. "That's what happened last time," Wells said.
The application has a daunting $2,500 non-refundable fee. A successful applicant then gets to pay a $20,000 one-year registration fee. A successful dispensary operator gets to pay a $30,000 annual renewal fee after the first year. The dispensary also has to pay a $50 fee for each employee's identification card, plus the cost of a criminal background check on each employee and the cost of laboratory tests for the marijuana.
When legislators voted to allow four dispensaries in the state, Public Safety officials pegged their budget to the amount that fees from the dispensaries would bring in. Wells said, however, that the program could manage budget-wise if a fourth dispensary does not qualify.
Not all applicants succeed. Wells said the state turned two of them down last year. The five-page application lists a host of measures by which applicants are judged.
The law seeks four dispensaries in geographically diverse areas of the state. Location will be taken into account, Wells said, but it alone won't qualify or disqualify an applicant.
Lynn said having another one in Chittenden County would be unwise, as the area likely could not support it.
He said he believes the dispensary will be financially viable for the nonprofit corporation, but some of the state's restrictions make that difficult. Among those challenges, the dispensary is only allowed to have one client at a time on the premises. If somebody cancels an appointment, that means the dispensary has no customer for that time slot. He said state officials have been open to making adjustments to such rules.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: burlingtonfreepress.com
Author: Terri Hallenbeck
- It will be long, detailed and not for the faint of heart or the cash poor. Unique issues will arise because dispensaries are in an odd business of legally selling something that is otherwise illegal.
- Though the applicants have to file detailed information about who they are, how they plan to run a dispensary and where they are getting their money, state officials will tell us all very little about any of it, ostensibly to protect patient confidentiality but also because it seems to give them the jitters, what with marijuana being otherwise illegal.
- If and when the dispensary finally opens, it will generate little attention. Just about the only complaints will be that the marijuana is not covered by medical insurance.
In the two months since Shayne Lynn started operating the Champlain Valley Dispensary, he's learned a lot, attracted more customers than he expected and had no interactions with the local police, he said.
Burlington Police Chief Mike Schirling, who had been worried about having a dispensary in the city, said Monday, "I'm not aware of any issues."
Lindsay Wells, the state's marijuana program administrator, said the state has received few complaints about the first dispensaries, and only from patients with concerns about access, not from the general public.
"Some patients didn't realize it's not covered by insurance," Wells said. Others registered complaints about not being able to reach a dispensary, but those issues have been resolved, she said.
Lynn thought he'd have about 75 clients by now. He has 175. "People had been waiting for this," he said. "We didn't realize how anxious people are to have this. People say, 'My God, this is such a relief.'"
The Champlain Valley Dispensary operates from an unmarked office near Burlington's Waterfront. Lynn is not allowed by the state to reveal its location, a fact that he said has been both good and bad as customers, who make appointments via telephone or the Internet. Some customers initially have had a hard time finding the dispensary, but there have also been no security issues.
Dispensaries are allowed to sell various forms of marijuana for medical use by appointment to Vermonters with qualifying conditions who have signed up for the state's medical marijuana registry and designated a dispensary. Dispensaries opened in Burlington and Montpelier in June. A third dispensary is due to open soon in Brandon. Those all came out of the first application process last year and took a year or more to come to fruition.
The state has one more opening for a medical marijuana dispensary and is accepting applications through Sept. 3, as the law allows a total of four statewide. Wells said she's heard from several people interested in applying and expects applications will come in at the deadline. "That's what happened last time," Wells said.
The application has a daunting $2,500 non-refundable fee. A successful applicant then gets to pay a $20,000 one-year registration fee. A successful dispensary operator gets to pay a $30,000 annual renewal fee after the first year. The dispensary also has to pay a $50 fee for each employee's identification card, plus the cost of a criminal background check on each employee and the cost of laboratory tests for the marijuana.
When legislators voted to allow four dispensaries in the state, Public Safety officials pegged their budget to the amount that fees from the dispensaries would bring in. Wells said, however, that the program could manage budget-wise if a fourth dispensary does not qualify.
Not all applicants succeed. Wells said the state turned two of them down last year. The five-page application lists a host of measures by which applicants are judged.
The law seeks four dispensaries in geographically diverse areas of the state. Location will be taken into account, Wells said, but it alone won't qualify or disqualify an applicant.
Lynn said having another one in Chittenden County would be unwise, as the area likely could not support it.
He said he believes the dispensary will be financially viable for the nonprofit corporation, but some of the state's restrictions make that difficult. Among those challenges, the dispensary is only allowed to have one client at a time on the premises. If somebody cancels an appointment, that means the dispensary has no customer for that time slot. He said state officials have been open to making adjustments to such rules.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: burlingtonfreepress.com
Author: Terri Hallenbeck
