Cities And Towns Demand Big Money From Medical Marijuana Facilities
BOSTON (CBS) -- In the four years since Massachusetts voters gave the green light to medical marijuana, only six facilities have opened across the entire state--and it may be because cities and towns require large payments to approve them.
Boston attorney Jim Smith, who represents a medical marijuana company, says it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for such a facility to get a license.
"This happens in no other industry," he told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens. "The alcohol industry, the waste dump industry, dangerous chemical industry. Only in medical marijuana does this appear to be the case."
The State Department of Public Health has ruled that a medical marijuana facility can't open unless it gets a certain letter from a city or town, and municipalities are charging a lot for those letters. Smith says that's one reason so few have opened in the Commonwealth.
"It was not the intention of those who drafted the petition," said Smith. "It was not the intention of the voters who passed this petition by almost 63 percent of the vote."
Smith says the high cost of the facility's approval is then passed on to consumers, who are already paying for a product that isn't covered by insurance.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports