GREENFIELD — Details of Patriot Care’s recreational marijuana sales were unveiled Monday night.
Patriot Care outlined information about its recreational marijuana plans at its Legion Avenue location during last night’s public information meeting. Details included security measures, parking and product selection that will be available once the city’s moratorium on recreational marijuana sales ends later this year.
According to Bob Mayerson, CEO of Patriot Care who spoke at length during last night’s meeting at John Zon Community Center, the location’s security features will include motion and vibration-activated alarms, ultraviolet machines to verify IDs for recreational marijuana customers and security personnel on site.
Medical marijuana patients will have to show state-issued cards, as well, and medical and recreational marijuana sales locations will be separate, although in the same building.
No cultivation will occur on-site, Mayerson said, with product arriving from Patriot Care’s Lowell location.
Parking however, could present a problem. According to Mayerson, the location will provide no on-site customer parking, aside from two handicap spots.
Spokesman Dennis Kunian said that parking will be available near the site, though, with an adjacent public parking lot and on-street parking in the area.
According to Kunian and Mayerson, the lack of parking is not expected to be an issue. Kunian said Patriot Care is expecting 200 customers a day at the location, which is based on volume from their other locations in Massachusetts and other states. However, Kunian said that Patriot Care’s Lowell location does experience as many as 400 customers a day.
The products offered will be similar for both recreational and medical marijuana customers, Mayerson said. Products will include edibles, tinctures, salves, pills and pre-rolled and loose marijuana. Recreational sales, though, will come with a 20 percent sales tax, with 3 percent going to the city. The 3 percent tax is an option for municipalities with recreational marijuana sales from the state, and City Council accepted the option during last week’s meeting.
The location is expected to open its doors next month, Mayerson said, once a final inspection is done by the Department of Public Health. The location’s opening has experienced several delays since Patriot Care received a special permit for the site in March 2015.
Patriot Care will begin with medical marijuana sales when it open its doors; recreational marijuana sales could follow at the location as early as July 1, the day after a moratorium on recreational sales end in the city.
“We want to have as broad a universe as possible of people that can benefit from the products we offer,” Mayerson said during the meeting, but added that the company’s focus is still on medical marijuana users.
Greenfield officials are currently in the process of crafting an ordinance to address all marijuana establishments in the city, which is expected to be completed by the end of the moratorium. If the ordinance is not created, however, then all registered marijuana dispensaries, such as Patriot Care, will be allowed to sell recreational marijuana within the city.
Currently, Patriot Care is the only registered marijuana dispensary in Greenfield, although according to Mayor William Martin, another company is expected to file to become a dispensary within Greenfield and the city has received three additional inquiries on the matter from businesses.
Currently, the Planning Board is in the process of modifying and completing a draft ordinance on the recreational substance, which includes addressing sales and cultivation of the product within the city. This draft was created by Director of Planning and Development Eric Twarog and is based on an Easthampton ordinance and a Montague bylaw.
Planning Board’s next meeting on the ordinance is scheduled for April 5.
Reach Dan Desrochers at:
ddesrochers@recorder.com
413-772-0261 ext. 257